Antique Love
by Tardis19
Summary: Edward Cullen is a shy, antique store owner with a problem. Someone thinks he has something that doesn't belong to him, and they are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. With the help of Port Angeles detective, Bella Swan, can they solve the case and find love? Rated M for violence, language, and other stuff.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, hey, hey! It's a new story! I know it's been a while since the last one, but this one is already completed and just has to go through my beta every week, so I can fix all those wonderful errors that she finds (thanks, Heather)!**

 **I'm sure by now you know the drill. I love some angst and drama in my stories as well as romance, and that hasn't changed.**

 **The story will update every Sunday, but I'll let you know that this isn't a super long story. About sixteen chapters, so it's shorter than most of my others.**

 **Well, on you go.**

* * *

 **BELLA**

"Swan! In my office now!" Captain Banner hollered, and I muttered a quiet oath under my breath as I shoved my chair away from the desk and slowly walked to the Captain's office.

Banner had been an ass to everyone in the precinct for the past week, and the rumor floating around was that his wife of twenty-eight years was fed up with him and had filed for divorce. If that was the case, then I was sorry to hear it, but he shouldn't be taking it out on his employees. I certainly didn't deserve the attitude that he'd been giving me, and it was getting increasingly difficult for me to keep my mouth shut.

"Stay calm, Swan," one of my co-workers advised, and I nodded my head before taking a deep breath. The last thing I wanted, or needed, was to get written up for insubordination and end up with a mark on my pristine record.

Pausing for a moment outside the door, I took another deep breath before knocking. Banner's deep voice told me to come in, so I opened the door and walked into his office and found a giant bear of a guy with dark hair, standing near the windows.

I knew, without a doubt, the guy was going to be my partner. I'd been through four of them in the eight months since I'd made detective. My last partner had moved to Florida to be with some girl he'd met on the Internet, two of them had refused to work with a female partner, and the other one had just been an asshole.

Banner motioned for me to take a seat, so I did, watching as the giant man turned around and flashed me a grin.

"Swan, this is Emmett McCarty. He's your new partner. Try not to drive this one away," Captain Banner said in a tired voice, and my fists clenched as I bit back the comments that wanted to leave my mouth.

"Yes, sir," I replied in a curt tone as I made my way toward his office door. I just barely refrained from slamming it shut.

"Charming guy," McCarty said dryly once the door was closed, and we walked toward the bullpen that housed all of our desks.

"Yeah, he's a fucking peach," I replied as I led McCarty over to our two desks that were in the corner. One was covered in post-it notes, packs of gum, random pieces of paper, and more pens than necessary while the other was clean and empty.

Pointing toward it, I told McCarty that was his desk as I took a seat back at my messy desk and began to sort through the files sitting on it.

"Thanks," he said with a slight Southern accent, and I nodded my head.

Twenty minutes of silence went by before we got a call out to a robbery in progress. I grabbed my coat, my phone, and the car keys, barely making sure to see if McCarty was following me. I was used to being on my own and doing things my own way, so it was up to him to catch up with me.

"We've got a 211 on Cherry Street," I told him as we got into the black 2007 Dodge Charger that had been issued to me.

"Is the suspect armed?" he asked, and I nodded my head as I pulled the car out of the lot and onto the road.

I always hated the awkwardness that came with getting a new partner, and I really hated going into a potentially dangerous situation with someone I didn't know. I'd have his back no matter what, and I could only hope he'd have mine if things went badly.

Less than ten minutes later, we were pulling up in front of a small new age bookstore with lots of dreamcatchers and crystals adorning the display window.

"Ready?" I asked McCarty who nodded yes.

With weapons at the ready, we slowly and carefully approached the building, announcing ourselves as we went in.

The place had been ransacked, and there were books and what looked like rocks tossed all over the floor.

We both stopped when we heard a noise from behind the counter. I looked over at McCarty who nodded, and we both moved quietly toward the noise.

"Ma'am?" McCarty asked as he knelt down next to a woman who was huddled under the counter. "Are you okay?"

The woman nodded before telling us that the man who had robbed her had run out the back, but he was long gone by the time I checked it out.

"It was James Tracker," I heard the woman tell McCarty, and I heaved a sigh. That kid was always in trouble with the law for some reason or another.

"You know him?" he asked, and I nodded.

"Yep, and you're about to," I told him.

We finished up with the woman, called it in, and I had a police officer take her down to the station to file a formal complaint. The crime scene unit came in, and that's when we left to go take a ride to Tracker's house.

"Tell me about this guy."

"He's an idiot kid who has a history of burglary, but this is the first time I've heard of him committing a robbery or having a weapon. Usually, he just steals stuff to pawn so that he can pay for his weed."

I told McCarty a bit more about James as we drove across town, and I muttered fuck when I noticed the beat up truck in the drive. It meant that James' dad, Gerald, was home, and he was a nasty son of a bitch who hated women as well as cops. Needless to say, I wasn't his favorite person.

"Get ready for some nastiness," I warned McCarty as we got out of the car and made our way up to the front door.

McCarty knocked hard on the door, and a few minutes later, an extremely drunk Gerald opened the door, swearing up a storm when he noticed me.

"What the fuck do you want?" he snarled.

"We need to talk to James," I told him, my hand on the butt of my gun that was residing in my holster. I didn't trust Gerald, and I'd been on the receiving end of his attitude and his fist more than once.

"He didn't fucking do nothing! You just have it out for my boy!" he shouted, stumbling a bit as he made his way out onto the porch.

"Where is he?" I asked again, secretly glad that McCarty was between Gerald and me.

"I don't fucking know, you stupid bitch," he slurred, slumping a bit against the railing.

I looked at the man with disgust. He was a pathetic drunk, and he probably didn't know where James was. Hell, the man probably didn't know where he himself was.

"Let's go," I told McCarty, watching as Gerald attempted to make his way back inside, mumbling about fucking cop bitches.

"Is he always like that?" McCarty asked me, and I nodded my head.

* * *

We spent the next two hours driving around town, hitting up all of James' usual haunts, but he was in the wind for the moment. An All-Points Bulletin had been put out on his car, and now it was a waiting game.

As we were leaving the IGA where James tended to hang out on the corner, McCarty's stomach let out a large rumble, and I snorted out a laugh.

"How about some lunch, yeah?" I asked him, and he nodded, a sheepish grin on his face.

Minutes later, I parked the car in a spot in front of Lucy's Diner. The place had been around since the fifties, and they had the best pie in the state of Washington.

As we ate lunch, I learned a lot about McCarty, who told me to call him Emmett. He was thirty-four, married, had two kids, and had moved out here from Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

"So, what brought you to Washington?" I asked between bites of my BLT.

"My wife, Rose, is from the area, "he told me. "Her father is sick, so she wanted to come home to be close to him."

I asked him where in the area she was from, and he told me she was from a small town called Forks.

I set down my sandwich as I looked at him. Forks wasn't that big of a town, and I'd gone to high school with a girl named Rosalie who had been a couple of years ahead of me. She'd been one of the popular girls, but she'd been nice to me, unlike some of the others.

"Is your wife's maiden name, Hale?"

He nodded before asking me how I knew that. I explained that I'd grown up in Forks and had gone to high school with Rosalie.

Over our lunch, we talked about why we became cops, and I mentioned that my dad was the Chief of Police in Forks.

"After I graduated from college and the academy, I decided I wanted to work in a town that was a little bit bigger than Forks but not as large as Seattle. Besides, I wouldn't want to work for my dad. Not that he's a bad guy, but it would be so weird," I told him, and he nodded in understanding.

And speaking of the devil, my phone rang with my dad's number showing up.

"Hey, Dad," I answered.

"Hey, Bells. So, I think I have someone that you're looking for," he told me, and I grinned as he told me that he'd busted James speeding through Forks.

"Awesome! We'll be down to get him."

"Finish eating," I told Emmett. "My dad's got James in custody."

"Nice," he mumbled through a mouthful of food.

By the end of the day, I was more than ready to just go home, curl up on my couch with my cat, Gallifrey, and watch some Netflix.

We'd taken James into custody which had led to Emmett being bitten by the asshole, and after dropping off James at booking, I'd had to take Emmett to the hospital for a tetanus shot and then back to the station to file assault charges against James. Needless to say, it had been one hell of a day for both of us.

"See ya tomorrow, McCarty," I hollered out my rolled down window as I backed my car out of the parking lot of the precinct. He gave me a wave as he climbed into his car, and I decided that I quite liked the guy. He wasn't nearly as douchey as my last partner had been nor was he as condescending.

As I drove through downtown toward the small house that I rented, I noticed that one of the empty storefronts had a new sign, Cullen Antiques _,_ and there was stuff in the display window _._ Probably some old guy who'd decided to retire here and sell old stuff to old people. I didn't get the appeal of antiques, but my stepmother, Sue, loved to collect them, or whatever it was she did with them. It drove my dad nuts, especially when she forced him to go on antique hunting trips with her across the country.

A few minutes later, I was pulling into the small, slightly rundown house that was mine. Well, sort of mine. I was saving up money to buy a really nice house, so until then, the rented small blue house would have to do.

I'd just hung up my coat and put my gun in the lockbox in the closet when a small furry body rubbed itself against my leg.

Leaning down, I picked up the tabby cat that I'd rescued three years earlier and carried him into the kitchen to fill up his food bowl.

"Well, Gallifrey, what should I have for dinner?" I asked him as I opened up both the fridge and freezer doors.

I groaned when I realized that my fridge was pretty much empty, and my freezer wasn't much better. Closing the doors, I grabbed a handful of takeout menus from one of the kitchen drawers and tossed them on the counter.

Sighing at how pathetic it was that I owned more takeout menus than actual food, I grabbed the menu for Chinese and made my way toward the living room.

Plopping down on the couch, I pulled out my phone, placed my order, and then gave Sue a call.

We chatted for a few minutes before I told her that I'd seen a new antique store here in Port Angeles, and she let out a delighted gasp.

"Really? Oh, that's fantastic news! Mrs. Johnson is retiring and moving to Florida next month, and she had the only halfway decent antique store nearby. I really hope the new place is better than Shelley's Attic. That place is a disaster, and everything is so overpriced."

"Well, I don't know if it's open yet, but it's called Cullen Antiques, and it's on the corner of Main and Burberry."

I let out a small laugh when Sue held the phone away and yelled to Dad that they needed to make a trip to Port Angeles to check out the new antique store. Seconds later, Dad was on the phone.

"Really, Bells? Really? You just had to let her know there was a new antique place in town?"

I let out a snicker at his affronted tone of voice.

"Sorry, Dad. I'm sure she would have found out eventually."

"Uh huh. I'm sure you are. Well, I have an idea. Why don't we go see it one of these mornings? _All_ of us," he said, and I barely held back a groan. The man knew how much I hated shopping, and this was his way of getting revenge.

"Well played, old man," I muttered over the phone. "Well played."

Reluctantly, I agreed, and we decided that we'd meet up for breakfast at Lucy's on Saturday morning.

* * *

"Good morning, Bella," Lucy said as she poured some coffee into the mug that was in front of me.

I grunted a reply back to her, scowling across the table at my dad. This was entirely his fault, but he just shot me a smirk as he took a sip from his cup.

"So, I called Cullen Antiques to make sure they were open for business, and they are," Sue told us after we'd placed our orders. "I just hope it's not filled to the brim with crap like Shelly's place."

As I ate my blueberry waffles, I vaguely listened to Sue as she told me all about some snuff boxes that she was looking for as well as rare books and some vases. I just nodded my head and grinned when I saw Dad doing the same. I'd already endured a short lecture on what snuff boxes were just the previous week, and I knew better than to ask any questions.

"You're not fooling anyone, you two," Sue said, and we both mumbled apologies. She waved us off and then kept talking about all the stuff she was looking for.

"Shall we go?" she asked a half hour later, and Dad and I reluctantly nodded.

It didn't take long before I was pulling into a parking space beside Sue's car in front of the antique store.

Taking a deep breath and mentally preparing myself for the hell that I was pretty sure I was about to endure, I got out of my car and followed Sue and Dad into the store.

"God, I hope to hell she doesn't find anything she wants," Dad muttered to me, but I knew he was kidding. He loved Sue to death and couldn't care less if she spent a small fortune on her antiques. Plus, I knew for a fact that he'd taken a liking to old guns. Sue had busted him looking up Civil War guns on eBay, and he'd even checked out a book on old guns from the library.

Dad's birthday was coming up, and I figured that I'd help him get his collection started by finding him either an old gun case or an old gun. I had no idea how hard or expensive it would be, but Sue had promised to help me out.

I walked through the door, pleasantly surprised that the place didn't smell old and musty like the last place to which Sue had dragged me.

"Hi! Welcome to Cullen Antiques!" a cheerful voice said, and I looked across the room to see a tiny woman with spiky black hair.

"Is there anything you're looking for?" she asked, and immediately, Sue began asking her about snuff boxes and vases.

While Sue was being helped, Dad told me he was going to wander around, and I nodded, figuring I'd do the same.

I took off in the opposite direction that Dad had gone and found myself in a small enclave that held four floor-to-ceiling bookshelves full of books. Some of them looked pretty old, and I found myself looking through them.

"Do you need any help?" a warm, masculine voice asked, and I turned around to tell the person that I was fine, but my voice faltered when I saw the person who had asked.

He looked to be about my age, around thirty, and he was gorgeous. Bronze colored hair that was messy, and bright green eyes that peered out at me from behind a pair of black rimmed glasses.

"Oh … um … I was just looking," I managed to blurt out, wincing at how inept I sounded.

"Okay, well just let me know if there's anything you need," he said, and as he walked away, my mind went into perverted overdrive and I thought about all the things he could help me with. Like getting over the dry spell I was in. God, had it really been ten months since I'd had sex?

Shaking my head, I put back the book that I'd pulled off the shelf and went in search of my dad, trying my best to clear my head.

I didn't see Dad anywhere, but I did see Sue in a deep discussion with the woman who'd greeted us, so I decided to go find the hot guy and ask about guns.

"Excuse me," I said as I walked up to the counter the man was standing behind, and he jumped a tiny bit.

He pushed his glasses up before answering me, and I asked if he had any antique guns.

"I don't at the moment, but I'd be glad to search around for you," he said with a smile, and I quickly agreed.

"If you'll just fill this out, I'll contact you when I have something of interest," he told me, and I took the form from his hand and began filling out the information.

"Edward!" the woman with Sue called out. "Do you have any early nineteenth century snuff boxes in the back?"

Edward shook his head. "Sorry, Alice. Maybe I'll find some next week at the auction."

I finished filling out the form and handed it back to him, and I felt a tingle as our fingers brushed. I really needed to get laid if I was getting all tingly over a simple brushing of skin with a stranger.

"Okay, Bella," he said, and I loved the way my name sounded coming from his lips. "I'll give you a call when I have something."

"Thanks, Edward," I said, figuring that was his name since he had responded to it.

I watched as a blush crept up his cheeks.

"You bet," he told me, holding out a hand for me to shake as he thanked me for my business.

The tingly feeling was back, and I was reluctant to let go of his hand as my dad walked up to us.

"I hope Sue's ready soon. I'm starving," he grumbled, and I let out a snicker.

"We just ate. How can you be hungry again? You're as bad as Emmett."

"How is the new partner?" Dad asked as we leaned against the counter, waiting for Sue.

"I like him. He's much better than Marcus. That guy just bitched about everything."

Twenty minutes later, Sue was finally ready, and she walked out of Cullen Antiques with two bags and a box full of … well, stuff. I wasn't sure what all she bought or where she was going to put it. Their house wasn't that big.

As if reading my mind, Dad quietly told me that he was converting his old office into a display room for Sue which I found to be incredibly sweet.

"Yeah, well I don't want snuff boxes all over the place," he muttered, and I just rolled my eyes at him. He tried to play the tough guy, but my dad was a teddy bear at heart.

* * *

 **a/n: Man, the start of a new story always leaves me a bit nervous, so do a girl a favor and leave me a review! Good or bad, either way I want to hear from you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews, the views, the alerts, and just being awesome! It warms my little heart. I suppose I should have mentioned that this story has alternating POV's. Not that I think you'll mind too much. A huge thank you to my beta, Heather, for being so awesome!**

* * *

 **EDWARD**

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" my mom asked me for the umpteenth time, and I gave her a smile.

"Yes, Mom. This is what I want. I need a change of pace and scenery, and I've always loved Port Angeles and the surrounding areas. Please don't worry," I told her, and she let out a scoff as she told me it was her job to worry despite the fact that I was a thirty-year-old man.

"Besides, Alice is only a few hours away in Seattle. It's not like I won't know anyone on the west coast."

"I know, dear. I just want you to be happy."

That's all I really wanted as well. Life in the last eight months had been rough for me in my hometown of Chicago, and more than a little unpleasant. I mainly had myself to blame, though, because I'd gone and fallen for the one person I never should have, and she had done her best to ruin not only my business but my life.

I took a deep breath and did my best to clear all thoughts of Tanya from my brain. She'd turned me upside down and had gutted me, and it was best if I just forgot that she had ever existed.

I assured my mother, once again, that moving to the other side of the country was the best thing for me, and a week later, I arrived in Port Angeles, Washington, with my car and a UHaul.

I'd found a three storied building for sale downtown, and it had seemed the ideal place to set up my shop and apartment. Just because I was starting over in a new place didn't mean I couldn't continue to do what I loved, and antiques were my passion.

My shop in Chicago had been one of the largest and most renowned until _she_ had taken that from me. I'd lost a lot of business and a lot of very important clients. I hadn't been blacklisted by the antiquing community, but it had been close, so I figured a store somewhere away from the drama would be a smart idea. Hopefully, the rumor mill in Port Angeles wasn't as noisy as the one in Chicago, and I really hoped no one in the antiquing community out west knew about what had happened.

My little sister, Alice, had been my biggest supporter, and she'd encouraged me to move out west. She and her husband, Jasper, lived in Seattle, and they loved it. However, I was tired of the big city and opted for Port Angeles where our grandfather had lived when we were kids.

Alice had been amazing and had forwarded me listings of buildings for sale in Port Angeles, and I'd fallen in love with the old brick building on the corner. The building that was now going to be my store and my home. I'd had contractors out working on the place, making sure everything was up to code, and I had them create a small apartment on the third floor by adding a few walls and some doors. Alice had called me earlier in the week and had told me the place looked great, and I felt excited for the first time in months. This was definitely what I needed to get my life back on track.

I grinned as I pulled into one of the parking spots behind the building and spotted my sister and her husband, Jasper, waiting for me. Before I could even get out of the car, Alice was at my door, pulling me into a slightly awkward hug which I returned before she allowed me out of the vehicle.

"Hey, Ed," Jasper said in his thick Southern drawl, and I returned the hug he gave me before taking the keys that were in his hand.

Alice was practically bouncing on her toes as I unlocked the door and made my way inside.

"It's perfect," I told her after taking a quick walk-through around the first floor.

"I know!" she squealed, and I let out a laugh.

After a tour of the second floor, I followed Alice and Jasper to a small locked door which when opened, showed a flight of stairs that led to the third floor.

"There's an outside entrance as well," Alice told me as I climbed the stairs behind her. "You'll definitely get your exercise."

I honestly didn't care that I was going to have to climb a bunch of steps, but I knew I'd probably be complaining as soon as we started unpacking my furniture.

The apartment was nicely done, and the construction crew had done an excellent job. It had an open floor plan, for the most part, with closed off rooms for the bathroom and my bedroom. It was just what I needed.

"Well," Alice said. "It's quite a bit smaller than the condo you were living in, but it's not bad."

"I like it," I told her before thanking her, once again, for her awesome job of getting this all done while I was finishing up stuff in Chicago.

"You bet, big brother. I'd do anything for you," she said with a sweet smile, although a few hours later, she had changed her mind.

"Why the hell does all the stuff you own have to be so freaking heavy?" she growled as she struggled to carry a box full of books up the stairs.

Jasper and I rolled our eyes at her grumblings, but I was really thinking the same thing. I couldn't recall having so much stuff being packed into the U-Haul. I swear it had multiplied on the drive across the country.

Three hours into moving me in, Alice left to grab us some lunch, and I wasn't so sure she'd be back. Hell, if I'd been the one to leave, I wasn't sure I would have come back either. I'd forgotten what a pain in the ass it was to move into a new place.

"Here," Alice said some thirty minutes later, tossing Jasper and me fast food bags.

Eagerly, I opened it up and pulled out two burgers and a large fry and began chowing down. I felt like I hadn't eaten ages, and I downed the beer that Jasper passed my way, too.

After lunch, we lazed around for a while before getting back to work. By eight that night, all the furniture was properly placed and all the boxes had been put in the correct rooms, but I still had a bunch of unpacking to do.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay? You can have my bed, and I'll crash on the couch," I suggested because Alice and Jasper had a two and a half hour drive back home, but they both shook their heads.

I thanked them profusely and hugged Alice before walking them to the back door that had stairs leading down to the parking spots behind the building.

Once Alice and Jasper had left, I took a shower, then plopped down on my couch and flipped on the TV. I was incredibly grateful that Jasper had had my Internet and cable turned on, and before long, I found myself falling asleep to a sitcom rerun.

* * *

A week after I'd moved to Port Angeles, most of my inventory had arrived, and I'd spent the past five days, putting everything in its proper place so that I would be able to open up first thing on Monday morning.

And by ten am on Monday, I'd had my first customer at Cullen Antiques. Well, I guess I wouldn't really call her a customer since she didn't buy anything, and she spent ten minutes, telling me what was wrong with my displays and decor. Turns out, her name was Shelly Cope, and she owned an antique shop a few miles away.

"Well, good luck to you, Mr. Cullen," she said in a snarky tone before walking out the door, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her attitude. I'd dealt with plenty of antique dealers like her, and I wasn't concerned in the slightest. People like her tended to collect whatever junk they could find at yard sales and cheap auctions and then sell them at a marked up price. I had no doubt that her shop was cluttered and overpriced.

I'd learned antiquing at the hands of my grandfather who had been a collector of coins, furniture, and Chinese art. I'd spent years, studying up on different antiques and going to lectures and auctions, and I knew I was good at my job despite what some people back in Chicago might think.

By the end of the first week that I'd been open, I'd had quite a few customers and had made more than a few sales/ Alice was coming down to help me for the weekend since that was when most people did their shopping.

Early Saturday morning, the bell above the door chimed, and I climbed off the step stool I was on only to hear Alice greet my first customers of the day. Knowing that they were in good hands because Alice was a collector of fine things herself, I went back to putting up some of the paintings that I'd acquired.

I looked over a few minutes later as I heard footsteps heading my way, and I saw a petite brunette make her way into the small cove that housed a bunch of books that were for sale. I kept all the super rare books as well as all the rare and valuable items in locked display cases near the front of the building, close to the cash register, and I had security cameras all over the place.

I'd had a nasty break in about six years ago and had lost a ton of valuable inventory, and I'd definitely learned my lesson.

Done with putting up the paintings, I climbed down and off the step ladder and made my way over to the book section.

"Do you need any help?" I asked the brunette, and my heart about stopped when she turned to face me.

She was absolutely stunning with big brown eyes, long brown hair, and the prettiest smile I'd seen in forever. I found myself immediately attracted to her.

She told me that she was just looking around, and I gave her a smile, telling her to come to me if she needed anything.

As I made my way toward the register, I noticed her walking away, and I couldn't stop myself from watching her. She stirred something inside me I hadn't felt in a long time, not to mention that she was extremely well fit and that had other parts of me stirring.

Shaking my head and trying to focus again, I walked over to the counters that held a bunch of business cards I'd had made and began to do some quick inventory.

About five minutes later, a soft voice interrupted me, and I jumped a bit, shoving my glasses up my nose before answering the gorgeous woman in front of me.

She wanted to know if I had any antique guns in stock, and I shook my head as I told her I didn't. Guns were one of those things that I didn't keep in stock because I rarely ever got requests for them.

"I don't at the moment, but I'd be glad to search around for you," I told her with a smile, and she agreed, telling me that would be great.

I handed her a form to fill out so that I could contact her when I found some guns for her, plus I really wanted to know what her name was.

As soon as she was done with the form, she slid it my way, our fingers brushing against one another's, and I knew she'd felt the same spark that I had.

"Okay, Bella," I told her, thinking that her name suited her perfectly. "I'll give you a call when I have something."

Within moments of the small group leaving, Alice skipped over to me with a cheesy grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

"No, Alice," I countered before she could even speak.

She let out a huff as she crossed her tiny arms and glared at me.

"You don't even know what I was going to say, big brother."

"Doesn't matter," I told her. "The answer is still no."

Ignoring me, Alice came around the side of the counter and plopped her butt down on one of the stools. She made sure to get all up in my personal bubble, leaning in and blocking the paper in front of me.

"Alice."

"She's pretty," she stated, and I rolled my eyes at her. Since I'd become single, Alice was constantly meddling in my love life. Not that I had one, which, according to her, was the problem. I think Alice wanted me to be as happy as she was, but I wasn't so sure I wanted another relationship anytime soon. I was still feeling raw regarding the whole disaster in Chicago, and Tanya had left me burned.

"Don't you agree?" she asked, and I heaved a sigh.

"Yes, Alice. Bella is very pretty."

Her eyes lit up, and I groaned because I let it slip that I knew the beautiful woman's name.

"Bella, huh? That's fitting. You should become friends with her," she suggested, and I finally tossed the pen that had been in my hand on the counter and turned to look at her.

"What?" she asked. "You need friends."

"I don't have time for friends. Besides, I'm apparently not very good at making the right kind of friends anyway," I muttered somewhat bitterly. Most of the friends I'd had back in Chicago had dropped me like a hot potato once everything had been said and done.

"Those people weren't your friends, but how were you supposed to know that? Hell, I liked quite a few them, and if I'd thought for a second they'd just abandon you, I would've kicked their asses," she growled, and I couldn't help but grin at her. Alice might be tiny, but she was loyal and incredibly fierce.

"Anyway," she said, going back to her original topic, "it wouldn't hurt to make a friend or two. I worry about you being holed up in here day in and day out."

To appease her, I told her I'd attempt to make friends, and I promised I wouldn't hole up in my apartment or my store although I wasn't so sure I was going to keep that promise. I used to be the kind of guy who went out every weekend and was rarely ever at home, but after things in Chicago had gone south, I'd pretty much kept to myself.

Tuesday afternoon around one, I closed the store for lunch and made my way toward a small diner about which one of my customers had told me. It was a small place called Lucy's Diner, and I was told they had the best fried chicken in the state. I didn't know about that, but some fried chicken with a side of coleslaw and a biscuit sounded absolutely delicious.

It was a short walk from my store to the diner, and I realized just how hungry I was when I walked into the diner and smelled all kinds of wonderful food.

"Just have a seat wherever, honey," a throaty voice said, and I nodded my thanks before grabbing a small booth next to a window.

A glass of water was placed in front of me as well as a menu, and the waitress, a woman named Leah, rattled off the specials before asking me what I wanted to drink.

I ordered a Coke and told her that I'd heard their fried chicken was the best around.

"Damn straight it is. Do you want it regular or spicy?"

"Spicy, please."

After Leah left, I pulled out my phone, opened up my Kindle app, and began to read the latest Brad Meltzer novel. After a few minutes, I was completely absorbed in my book when a familiar voice hit my ears.

Looking up from my phone, I spotted the woman who had come into my store a few days earlier. She was sitting at the counter with some huge guy, and as my eyes traveled over her, I noticed that she was carrying a gun and a badge.

The guy beside her noticed me staring and raised an eyebrow at me, and I quickly glanced away and went back to reading my e-book. I definitely didn't want any kind of confrontation with that guy. I mean, I could hold my own in a fight, but I certainly didn't want to fight that guy.

"Oh, hey, Edward," Bella said a few moments later, and I locked my phone as I looked over at her.

"Hi, Bella. How are you?" I asked, noting that the guy was looking between us.

"Good. You?"

I told her I was fine, and then I told her that I was hitting up an estate auction in Seattle in a couple of days and was hoping to find what she'd been looking for.

"That's great! Just call me when you have something," she said, before saying something to the woman with wild red hair behind the counter where she was sitting.

She and the guy she was with, who I assumed was her partner since he had a gun and shield as well, got up and made their way out the door but not before she waved at me.

I waved back just as my waitress set a huge plate of food down in front of me.

"I'd stay away from Bella if I were you," Leah spat. "She likes to ruin people's' relationships."

I was taken aback by the venom in her voice as well as the fact that she'd have the nerve to say something like that to a complete stranger.

"Leah!" a sharp voice called out, and I looked over to see the woman from behind the counter with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

"No one asked for your opinion. We all know that you don't like Bella, although Lord knows why. She hasn't done anything to you."

Leah's face darkened, and she shot a hateful glare at the woman before stalking off, and I had to admit, I was a bit curious as to what had caused such a hateful reaction from Leah. Not that it was any of my business.

"Just ignore her, honey," the woman said as she came over my way and introduced herself as Lucy, the owner of the diner.

As I ate, she asked me questions, and although it should have been intrusive, I found myself really liking her. Lucy was definitely a character with her bright red hair, turquoise contacts, and piercings.

"Do you have any vintage signs in that shop of yours?" she asked me, and I nodded. I had quite a few, and I told her to stop by whenever she felt like it, and I'd give her a discount if she bought three or more. In all honestly, I had way more vintage signs than I knew what to do with, and I'd love to get rid of them to make room for some other inventory.

A few hours after lunch, just as I was about to close the shop, the door chimed, and I saw a rather greasy looking man in a suit walk through the door. Something about the man put me on high alert, and I watched him like a hawk as he approached the counter and stared at the locked cases behind it that housed some expensive coins.

"I'm looking for some certain coins, well, really, just one specific coin. I was wondering, by chance, if you happened to have one or a lead on where I could find it," he said with a smarmy smile, and a shiver ran up my spine.

"What are you looking for exactly?"

"A Flowing Hair dollar," he said, and I just stared at him. The Flowing Hair dollar was the first dollar coin issued by the U.S. federal government, minted in 1794 and again in 1795. There were roughly one hundred and thirty of them still around, and the last I heard, one of them sold at auction for over ten million dollars. Why on earth this guy thought a small-time antique dealer like me would have one was beyond me.

"I certainly don't have anything like that," I told him. "The only places you'll find that are either at a large auction house like Sotheby's or by a private seller. Now, if you're looking for something like two-cent pieces from the 19th century or an 1800 draped bust heraldic eagle half dime, then I can help you."

"Are you sure?" he asked, leaning in, and I caught a whiff of garlic and coffee on his breath. It was enough to make me almost gag.

"Believe me, I'd know if I had a Flowing Hair dollar lying around."

The man stared at me, and I stared right back, completely unnerved but refusing to let it show.

"Well, if you find a lead on one, can you give me a call? I'm willing to pay dearly. The name's Demitri Voltaire," he said, taking a business card out of a gold case and setting it down on the counter.

"Sure, but the chances are pretty slim that I'll hear anything," I told him, taking the card. "You might have better luck at a larger store in some place like Seattle."

The man thanked me and walked out of the door, and I felt a sense of relief as soon as he was gone. Something about that guy was off, and it creeped me out that he was in here looking for a coin that a small-time antiquities guy like me would never have, and if he had done any research on that coin, he would have known that.

* * *

 **a/n: Thanks again for reading! I'll love to hear what you thought about our Edward in this chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hope everyone had a good holiday, and if you don't celebrate the festivities, I hope you had a good week! I can't thank you all enough for reading/reviewing/favoriting, you name it. Also a huge thanks to my beta, Heather, for keeping my grammar in check.**

* * *

 **Bella**

"Swan," I barked into my phone as I stared at the file in front of me. Dad had called us in to help him on a missing persons case almost forty-eight hours ago, and we'd hit nothing but dead ends, and every one of us was feeling frustrated and a bit hopeless.

"Bella? This is Edward Cullen."

"Edward, hi. I'm sorry. I was in the middle of the something," I told him by way of explaining why I'd growled into the phone.

"Oh, is this a bad time?" he asked. "I can call back."

"No, it's fine. Just having a rough day," I told him as I closed the file in front of me and leaned back against the couch.

We'd talked a couple of times on the phone since I saw him at the diner,and I had explained exactly what I was looking for. Dad loved watching Civil War documentaries, so I figured that getting him a gun from that era would really please him.

"I'm sorry to hear that," his warm voice said. "My brother-in-law is a history professor and a Civil War buff, and he got me in contact with some gun sellers. I picked up a few for the shop, so if

you want, you can stop by and look at them."

"I'd love to," I said, and I found myself eager to see him again. It was ridiculous. I was like a teenager with a crush on a member of a boy band. "I can stop by later today if that's okay?"

"Sure. I'm open until six, but I can stay later if that works better for you."

It was my day off, and although I'd spent most of it, working and looking through the missing person's case file, I was due for a break.

I told him I'd be by in about an hour, and after hanging up, I got off the couch and figured I should take a shower before going out.

Twenty minutes later, I was dressed in jeans and a long sleeve Henley, and my long hair was pulled up in a ponytail.

I grabbed my wallet and my keys before getting into my car and taking a drive over to Edward's store. It was only a ten minute drive, at most, to Main Street, and I pulled into a spot in front of the shop.

"It's good to see you again, Bella," Edward said once I'd walked in, and I returned the sentiment.

"Where's your assistant?" I asked him as he led me toward a locked gun case.

"Who?" he asked, looking confused for a moment until realization dawned on him. "Oh, that was my sister, Alice. She's gone back to her job in Seattle. She and her husband were just down here to help me out for the first few days."

"Has my stepmother been back in?" I asked just so I could hear him talk.

He let out a quiet chuckle as he nodded his head.

"Yeah, she's been in a few times. I found some snuff boxes for her at an estate sale last week, so I picked some up for her," he told me as he came to a stop in front of the gun case.

Peering into it, I saw several rifles and handguns, and Edward began to explain to me about them. I could honestly say, I didn't really pay much attention. I was too distracted by his voice and his pretty green eyes, and a small snicker told me I'd been completely busted.

"Sorry," I told him, and he waved away my apology.

"So, I was saying that the 1864 Bridesburg Rifle Musket might be something in which your dad would be interested," he said as he unlocked the case and pulled out the rifle.

It was in pretty decent shape, a few scratches here and there but that was expected. I mean, it was an old gun that had probably seen a lot throughout its years.

"How much is it?" I asked, tracing a finger along the length of it.

"Six fifty," he said, and my eyebrows winged up. Six hundred and fifty dollars was a bit out of my price range although I'd known guys who'd spent thousands of dollars on guns.

"Anything cheaper?"

"You can get replicas for a couple hundred bucks, but if you want the real deal, it's gonna cost a bit more," Edward told me, and I nodded my head. I knew he was right.

"Can I have some time to think about it?" I asked him.

"Of course," he said with a smile. "I do have a few other Civil War pieces that are gun related and a bit cheaper. I've got a pistol bullet mold, a cartridge box, and a handful of bullets."

I took a look at them and ended up buying the bullets and the cartridge box for under a hundred bucks. I had a feeling Edward probably could have gotten more for them from someone else, but I certainly wasn't complaining.

As he finished wrapping up my purchases, his stomach let out a loud rumble that had him blushing and me laughing.

"Want to grab some dinner?" I found myself blurting out, and now it was my turn to blush. It's not that I was a stranger to asking guys out, but I usually did it with a little more finesse.

His eyes widened behind his glasses for a second before he nodded.

"I'd love that, Bella. Just give me a few minutes to lock up."

About fifteen minutes later, Cullen Antiques was locked up and the alarm was set, and Edward and I made our way out front.

"Do you like seafood?" I asked because I'd been craving some shrimp and crab legs. Thankfully, Edward told me that he did.

"Great. I know just the place," I told him, leading him over to my Chevy Malibu.

It wasn't a very long drive to The Waterfront restaurant which was located right next to the city piers.

"Hey, Bella," Heidi, the hostess, greeted when she saw me, but she did a double take when she saw Edward with me.

"Hey, Heidi. Table for two, please. Preferably with a view of the water."

Moments later, we were seated, and Edward began to ask me what the best thing to eat was.

"Everything," I told him with a grin, and he let out a laugh that did things to me. I internally rolled my eyes at myself. I really was acting like a teenage girl, not a thirty-year-old woman.

"That doesn't help me."

"Well, you can't go wrong with crab legs, but the lobster or the Alaskan king salmon are both equally amazing," I told him before warning him that those items were a bit pricier than the shrimp or crab.

After placing our order, a slightly awkward silence surrounded us, and it was killing me. I hated awkward silences.

"So where are you from, and what brought you here?" I asked, wincing at how interrogation-like I sounded.

"I'm from Chicago," he told me, fiddling with his glass of tea. "I lived there my whole life except for when I went to college in Boston."

"As for moving out here," he said after a quiet moment, " I needed a change of scenery and a change of pace. I had a bad breakup which ended up complicating some of my business dealings."

I could tell he was uncomfortable talking about whatever had happened in Chicago, so I let it drop and changed the subject a bit even though I was dying to know what had put that sad look in his eye.

"Have you always wanted to own an antique shop?" I asked him next.

He let out a laugh as he shook his head.

"No. I had always thought I'd be a doctor like my father. Growing up, I spent summers here in Port Angeles with my grandfather, and he'd always take Alice and me to estate sales, flea markets, or auctions. He was a huge collector of all sorts of things, and the man loved to haggle.

"I just loved learning about all the old stuff that he had, and I'd spend hours doing research on an old book or a musical instrument he'd bought somewhere. Soon, it became something I loved to do, so I studied business in college while working at an antique shop, and after I graduated, I knew what I wanted to do. Thankfully, my parents were completely supportive of my decision and they helped me start my business."

"I don't think I could ever own my own business. I don't think I'm disciplined enough," I admitted to him, and he let out a chuckle.

"It's not for everyone, and I had a hard time with that at first. I either overworked and ran myself into the ground, or I took a lot of time off and didn't make any money. Lord knows, I made plenty of mistakes in the beginning."

We continued to talk as we waited for our food, and I learned that his favorite color was blue, that he loved to read, and that he'd always wanted to learn how to surf. I ended up telling him a bit about myself as well until we were interrupted by our waitress, Amber, who did her best to flirt with Edward. She leaned in super close, assaulting him with her strong perfume, as she put his plate in front of him, and I rolled my eyes at her blatant behavior.

She then asked him if she could get him anything else, and he shook his head before informing her that I needed a refill. She let out a huff before snatching my glass off the table, and I raised an eyebrow her. Amber knew better than to mess with me. I'd arrested her ass a couple of times for writing bad checks, and she knew I wasn't someone to fuck with.

Moments later, a large glass of Coke was slammed down in front of me, and I smirked as she stalked off.

"I take it you know her," Edward asked before taking a bite of his salmon.

"She's had a few run-ins with the law," I told him with a smirk.

As we ate our dinner, Edward asked me why I became a cop, and I told him that my dad was a cop and he'd always been my hero. My mother, who had left when I was little, had hated the idea that I wanted to be a police officer, but I loved it. I loved helping people and solving crimes, and I'm not gonna lie, I enjoyed carrying a gun. Not that I really ever used it that. I'd only had to fire it a few times in all my years on the force.

Once dinner was over and we'd each paid for our own meals, we made our way back to my car. I knew that we hadn't been on a date, yet it felt like we had been.

"Have a good night, Bella," Edward said as he opened his door once we were back at his shop. "I had a good time. Maybe we can do it again."

"I'd like that," I told him, and I watched as he walked around the corner. I stayed to make sure that he got inside safely, and I smiled when he waved to me from one of the third floor windows.

Once I was home, I locked my door and made my way to my small bedroom where I changed into my pajamas and tossed my clothes in the hamper.

Before long, I was curled up in my bed with a warm cat beside me, reading a book. It was the best way to end my day. I was really getting into the story I was reading when my phone buzzed.

With a bit of a huff, I marked my place in my book, closed it, and grabbed my phone from the bedside table.

"What's up, Jake?" I asked as I answered. Jacob Black had been my best friend since I was seven and he was five. Our fathers were best friends, and as such, we ended up being best friends as well. We'd actually tried dating when we were in high school, but it had been awkward and weird, and in the end, we had decided that we were much better suited being friends.

"How come I have to hear from Sally who heard from Jeanna who heard from Heidi that you're dating some guy that just moved to town?" he asked, and I about dropped my phone.

"What are you talking about? I'm not dating anyone. At least, not that I know of, and I'm pretty damn sure I'd know if I was dating someone."

"Really, B? Because the way I hear it, you're practically engaged."

I rolled my eyes at his words. "You know better than to trust anything that comes out of Heidi's mouth. I mean, really, Jake. The woman is the worst gossip this side of the Mississippi."

"So, you didn't have a dinner date with some guy?" he asked.

"No. I had dinner with a guy, but it wasn't a date. And why do you care anyway? You don't see me calling and harassing you every time you have dinner with a female companion."

Jake huffed and told me he was just looking out for me, which he'd always done, but it was totally unwarranted. I was a big girl, one who carried a gun, and I was perfectly capable of looking out for myself.

"I appreciate that Jake, but it was no big deal. It was just dinner. I was hungry. Edward was hungry. We went and got food. End of story."

"Who is this Edward?"

I rolled my eyes as I flopped back on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I was in for twenty questions for sure, and knowing Jake, he'd tell my Dad and Sue, and then my dad would grill me. Good Lord, you'd think I'd never eaten dinner in a restaurant with a member of the male species before.

"Edward Cullen. He just moved here from Chicago and owns the new antique store in town," I explained.

"Oh, so he's an older guy?"

"No, he's about our age."

For the next fifteen minutes, Jake hounded me with questions, and I answered them as best as I could just to shut him up.

"Oh my fucking God!" Jake exclaimed. "You really like this guy."

"What? No, I don't. I mean, I like him, and sure, he's a nice guy, but I don't like him the way you mean," I stammered out.

"You do. You totally do. Wow. I haven't heard you like this since you were crushing on that dude back in college."

"Whatever, Jake," I told him before hanging up on his laughing ass.

I so didn't have a crush on Edward. Not really. Okay, maybe a little, but it didn't matter. I doubted the man was even interested in me.

* * *

"Do you have any plans this weekend?" Emmett asked me as we sat at our desks filling out paperwork.

"I never have plans, McCarty," I replied, never looking up from the monitor in front of me.

"Excellent. Then you're free to come over to my place for a barbeque Saturday evening."

"Sure," I told him. I wasn't about to turn down free food, plus it would be interesting to see Rosalie again.

"Do you need me to bring anything?" I asked him, thinking it might be rude to show up empty handed.

He shrugged. "If you want, maybe bring that new boyfriend of yours."

I blinked a couple of times at his words before turning my gaze toward him.

"What?" I asked slowly.

"Your boyfriend, Edwin or Edgar or something like that. Lucy told me about him."

Jesus. I couldn't fucking believe it. This was the sort of shit that happened in tiny towns like Forks, not in Port Angeles.

"He's not my boyfriend," I growled out. "We had dinner. Something that friends, or in our case, business acquaintances do. We're not fucking dating."

That said, I shoved my chair back from my desk and stomped toward the ladies' room. I was livid, and it was all that stupid Heidi's fault. She'd gone and opened her big mouth to some people who apparently didn't know how to keep theirs shut, and now, even Lucy at the diner was telling people I had a boyfriend.

I took a few deep breaths before looking at myself in the mirror above the sink, and yeah, I still looked pissed. I really fucking hated being the subject of some unfounded rumor. It didn't matter that it wasn't a bad rumor. It was still a rumor. I thought I'd gotten away from that shit in college, but apparently, not.

Taking a few more deep breaths, I calmed myself down, and made my way back to the squad room.

"I'm sorry, Bella," Emmett said as I sat back down.

I waved him off.

"Not your fault. I just wish people wouldn't jump to conclusions, but I guess that's one of the perks of small-town life right?" I said with a slight huff.

"I guess so," Emmett said with an apologetic smile. "But you can still come to the barbeque, and you can bring some people with you if you want. I know Rosie's invited some old friends of hers from school."

I did my best not to wince when he said Rosalie had invited some old friends. I had a feeling that meant that Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory would be attending, and if that was the case, then I'd need some support.

"I'll bring my best friend, Jake, if that's cool. He lives on the reservation in La Push."

Emmett told me that was fine, and as soon as I got the chance, I texted Jake and let him know that we were hitting up a barbeque on Saturday night. He got back to me right away, saying that was fine. He wasn't about to turn down a free meal either, but I warned him about bringing up Edward. If I was going to date someone, I would do it on my own terms, and not because the whole fucking town was gossiping about it.

* * *

 **a/n: Let me know what you thought! I'll see you next week!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the delay folks! If you want, you can check out my author FB page (** **www. facebook tardis19fanfic** **), for updates and pics. Huge thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing. Huge thanks to my beta for being awesome!**

* * *

 **Edward**

"Thanks for coming," I told Millie Banner as she opened the door to leave the store after making another purchase. She had become one of my best customers since I'd opened, and she was a really sweet lady.

"Of course, Edward. You know I'll be back next week to see if you have in anything new," she told me before leaving.

Seconds later, she popped back in to warn me that Shelly Cope was heading my way. I barely held back a groan. Shelly Cope had become the bane of my existence. Every week, she'd stop in for some "friendly" chitchat, but in reality, she was scoping out the store and seeing what I had in stock.

"Hello, Edward," Mrs. Cope, as she insisted I call her, came into the store.

"Mrs. Cope. How are you?" I replied, keeping a watchful eye on her. I wouldn't put it past her to try and slip something in her pocket. I'd seen her trying to do it the week before, and I'd interrupted her; however, if she tried it this time, I was calling the police.

"Fine," she replied curtly as she made her way over to the gun cabinet that I'd had installed after finding some guns that I thought would interest Bella."

"This is new," she commented.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Hmph," she huffed before moving on.

I followed her around for twenty minutes as she looked at my newly acquired inventory, and I let out a sigh when she finally left. I knew she was trying to compete with me, but I also knew that I could afford more expensive items than she could.

As soon as Mrs. Cope was gone, I closed the shop for my hour-long lunch break and made my way to the diner. It had become routine for me to eat there during the week, and occasionally on the weekends, although I did try to eat at home. The last thing I wanted was to gain a ton of weight, so I needed to find a gym at some point.

"Hi there, handsome!" Lucy sang out as I walked in and took my spot at my usual booth.

"Hi, Lucy," I replied as she came over a few moments later and set a glass of ice tea in front of me.

"How's that girlfriend of yours?" she asked.

"My what?" I asked, thoroughly confused. I didn't have a girlfriend. I had a rather nasty ex-girlfriend, but I didn't have any current ones.

"Your girlfriend. Bella?"

"Um, Bella's not my girlfriend," I told her, knowing that my face was bright red.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought she was. I certainly didn't mean to embarrass you. I swear this is all Heidi's fault. She told me that she'd seated the two of you at The Waterfront restaurant the other night and that you were on a date."

I shook my head as I told her it wasn't a date. I felt really uncomfortable that people seemed so interested in my love life or lack thereof. This is what my mother had warned me about when I'd told her I was moving to Port Angeles. She had said that small towns had rabid rumor mills, and I shouldn't be surprised if I ended up being the attention of one.

"Hmmm. Well, Bella is a really sweet girl, and I think the two of you would make a cute couple. You should ask her out," Lucy said before walking away to attend to another table, and I was left a bit speechless.

By the time Lucy came back around to take my order, I still hadn't even looked at the menu, and I ended up ordering the first thing my eyes fell upon. Fortunately, everything was good here.

As I sat there waiting for my food, my mind was a whirlwind, and I couldn't stop thinking about what Lucy had said. I was definitely attracted Bella, but I was still feeling the burn that Tanya had inflicted upon me. God, just thinking about Tanya set my teeth on edge.

"Here you go, hon," Lucy said, setting a plate with a pulled pork sandwich and fries in front of me.

I nodded my thanks before taking a bite, but I couldn't get Lucy's words out of my head, and I barely tasted my food.

I walked back to my store after I'd paid for my meal, and I was so distracted that I almost walked in front of a car coming down the road. Jumping back, I let out a stream of curses before double checking and crossing the street.

I'd barely been back in the store for more than a few minutes when the phone rang, and I quickly grabbed it.

"Cullen Antiques, this is Edward," I answered.

"Edward, this is Demitri Voltaire. We met a couple of weeks ago," he said, and I felt a shiver race up my spine. My gut was telling me the guy was bad news, and I entertained the idea of having Bella run a background check on him.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Voltaire?"

"I was wondering if you'd heard anything regarding the Flowing Hair dollar. My sources are telling me that there's one being sold by a private seller."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Voltaire, but I haven't heard anything at all. If I do, I'll let you know."

He didn't seem pleased with my answer, and he let out a huff before hanging up the phone. I had a feeling the guy thought I was lying to him, but I wasn't. I truly hadn't heard anything about this coin being put up for sale although he seemed convinced that it was.

I decided to keep my ear to the ground and reach out to the few contacts that I still had in the Chicago area, and I'd reach out to some friends in New York and Boston, too, and see if they'd heard anything. If there really was a Flowing Hair dollar out there, it was going to be a mad dash to see who could get it first, and people in the rare coin collecting world weren't above doing whatever they could to get their hands on it.

With a slight frown on my face, I turned on my computer and ran a Google search on Demitri Voltaire, but I found very little information. All I got was that he worked for a company called Volterra that was based in Italy. Other than that, there was pretty much nothing on the guy.

Hitting a dead end with Voltaire, I googled the Flowing Hair dollar to see if there was any news, and I hit up a few auction forums to which I belonged to. From what I gathered, no one had heard anything, so I sent out a couple of emails, letting some old acquaintances know that I had a client looking to buy.

Done with that, I began to take inventory while the store was slow. It was a task I hated doing, but it needed to be done.

By four that afternoon, I was ready to close up early and call it a day when in walked Bella's father, Chief Swan. I'd met him once before when he'd come in with his wife a while back, and he seemed like a nice guy.

"Good afternoon, Chief," I greeted.

"Hey, son. Listen, I need your help if you've got a minute?"

"Of course."

Chief Swan went on to tell me that his wedding anniversary was coming up, and he knew that his wife had been eyeing some of the more expensive pieces that I had.

I unlocked the cabinet behind me that contained the more expensive snuff boxes and pulled out a few that ranged anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand. I wasn't quite sure what his price range was, so I decided to give him a few choices.

"I have no clue which one she'd like," he muttered as he stared at them.

"I'm sure she'd like whatever it was you bought her," I replied, and he let out a laugh.

"Good answer, son. Tell me the costs of these things."

"Well, the gold and tortoiseshell snuff box is roughly two grand, the silver Scottish snuff box is about seven hundred, and this 1928 leather snuff box is two hundred," I told him before giving him the prices of a few others.

He finally decided on the leather snuff box and since it was an anniversary gift, I gave him a bit of a discount and dropped the price by fifty bucks. I wasn't in the antique business to make money really. I had plenty of that thanks to my great grandfather and the trust fund that I had been given on my twenty-first birthday. I was in the business because I loved the history, the research, the hunt, and making my clients happy.

I finished ringing up Chief Swan's sale and packaged the item carefully before handing it to him, and he thanked me before giving me a look that made me want to squirm.

"I hear that you're dating my daughter," he said, and I shook my head.

"No, sir. That's a rumor that was started by some hostess at the restaurant we went to, I believe. Bella and I are just friends," I told him although I wasn't sure I could even call us that. Yes, we'd had dinner together once, and we'd talked a handful of times regarding her dad's birthday present, but we didn't really know each other well enough to be friends. Although, I wouldn't mind changing that.

Chief Swan nodded his head. "Well, she's a good person. You couldn't ask for a better friend," he told me, and I nodded my head in agreement

After he left, I sagged against the counter. There was nothing worse than dealing with some girl's father who thought you might do his baby girl harm. Not that I would ever hurt Bella. Besides, I was pretty sure she could kick my ass.

* * *

Two days after Chief Swan had come into the shop, Bella came in with some huge Native American guy by her side. The guy had to be pushing at least six foot seven, and he seemed to be looking me over, leaving me a bit unnerved.

"Hey, Bella!" I said, giving her a smile and doing my best to pretend her friend wasn't sizing me up.

"Edward! I've decided on that gun you showed me if you still have it," she said, pushing her long brown hair away from her face.

"You bet," I told her, taking the key from my pocket and unlocking the case.

While I was doing that, her friend began looking around, and I felt a sense of relief as he wandered off.

As I rang up her purchase, we made small talk, and I found myself even more attracted to her. She wasn't like the other women I'd dated. Bella was self-assured and tough. She spoke her mind, but she wasn't rude about it.

After Bella and her friend left, I went back to doing some inventory when my phone rang, and I saw that it was Alice.

The first thing she wanted to know was if I was dating, and I rolled my eyes at her even though she couldn't see me.

"No, Alice, and let it go."

"Fine. Oh, Jasper wants to know if you want to hit up some estate sales next week."

"Sure," I told her. Jasper was really into Civil War relics, and he occasionally found things at estate sales, so we'd gone to a few of them together. It certainly made it less boring than when I went by myself.

After I was done talking to Alice, I decided to close the store a half hour early and made my way upstairs to my apartment after locking things up and setting the alarm.

I spent the evening watching cheesy horror films and eating leftover pizza before finally calling it a night.

The next few days were completely uneventful, and I was looking forward to Friday although I had to admit, I was a bit nervous. The old Edward, the one before Tanya, wouldn't have been nervous. He would have been a bit cocky and a bit smug, but the person I was now was more reserved and shy.

At around two in the morning on Thursday, I was abruptly woken up by the sound of glass breaking and an alarm going off.

I practically fell out of my bed in my haste, and I threw on a shirt and a pair of shorts, and shoved my feet into a pair of sneakers before grabbing my cell phone and the baseball bat I kept in the corner near my bedroom door.

As I snuck down the stairs that led to the store, my alarm company called and asked if everything was okay. I told them someone had broken in, so they told me to stay put and that the police were on their way.

I debated for several minutes on whether or not to enter the store, and I let out a curse as I heard things being smashed. I was torn between staying put like I was supposed to or rushing in to save my inventory.

Thankfully, sanity prevailed, and I stayed where I was until I heard sirens right outside. I heard the police announce themselves before they entered, and I finally opened the door and peeked my head out.

"Get back inside," one of the officers hissed at me, and I did as he said, wishing like hell I knew what was going on.

I sat down on the stairs and waited for what seemed like forever. Finally, the police told me I could come out, and I did, to find my store in complete disarray and even the security cameras had been smashed.

"I need to ask you some questions," one of the cops said, and I answered his questions as best as I could while mentally taking inventory.

"Okay, Mr. Cullen. I'll need you to take a look around and tell me what's missing," he said a few minutes later.

As I walked around items that had been tossed on the floor, I found it hard to see if anything was missing, but when we came to the locked display cases up front, I let out a few fucks.

"There was a couple thousand dollars' worth of coins sitting in those cases," I said, "but I keep the very expensive ones in a locked safe in the back."

I led the officer to the back office, grimacing when I noticed that the door had been busted open. I pushed it open the rest of the way and immediately made my way toward my desk which had been completely ransacked. Ignoring the mess, I pulled the chair out and knelt down on the floor, finding the small notch in the wooden floor.

It didn't look like anything had been disturbed, and I was relieved to see the small safe intact underneath the floorboard.

"You keep a safe underneath the floor?" the cop asked.

"Seemed like a good idea," I told him, opening up the safe and seeing my most valuable inventory tucked safely away. "And, it looks like I was right."

It took a couple of hours for the crime scene investigators to gather prints and fibers, take the security tapes, and whatever else they had found. After they had gone, I was left with one hell of a mess to clean up, and I didn't even know where to begin.

I sat down on the stool behind the counter and rested my head in my hands. I'd been through worse, though, in Chicago, so I knew I would get through this. It was just a matter of cleaning up and putting stuff back where it belonged.

I was startled when there was a knock on my door, and I wondered who the hell was knocking on the door at four-thirty in the morning. Getting up, I made my way toward the door and was surprised to see Bella and her partner on the other side.

I motioned for them to come in, noting that I'd need to put up some wood across what was left of my one display window which the burglar had broken.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked, giving me a hug.

"I'm fine," I told her as I returned her hug. "A little shaken up and severely pissed, but physically, I'm fine. What are you doing here, though?"

"We heard the call come in over the radio," Bella told me as she looked around. "Jesus, this place is a mess."

"Yeah, it is," I told her, running a hand through my hair. "Thankfully, not a whole lot was taken, but there's plenty of stuff that's ruined."

"Well, let's start cleaning up," she said, and I stared at her and her partner who was nodding in agreement.

"You don't have to do that," I told her, and she shot me a look that had me shutting up. I was no stranger to that look. Both my mother and my sister had perfected it.

"Got a broom?" the big guy asked, and I nodded.

"Oh, Edward this is Emmett. Emmett this is Edward," Bella said by way of introduction.

I shook the large guy's hand before showing him where I kept the broom and dustpan. While he was gathering those, I grabbed a roll of garbage bags that I kept in a cupboard behind the counter.

"I don't even know where to start," I muttered as I looked at the mess in front of me. Thankfully, only the front half the store had been ransacked.

Bella took the garbage bags from me and placed a gentle hand on my arm and gave it a slight squeeze.

"Let's start here with the counters, and we will work our way around, okay?"

I nodded my head as I grabbed a couple of small boxes that I used for packaging and set them on the back counters before I began picking up jewelry, watches, and coins off the floor. I figured I would sort it all later.

It took us hours to get everything cleaned up and the window boarded, and by the time we were done, the three of us were sweaty messes, and my stomach was growling up a storm.

"Breakfast is on me," I told them as we sat around, relaxing for a few minutes.

"Although, I really need a shower," I said, looking down at myself and realizing I was still in my pajamas.

"Let's meet at Lucy's in an hour," Bella suggested, and we all agreed.

I thanked them profusely and locked the door behind them as they left before running upstairs to take a shower.

I stood in the shower for a long time, just letting the hot water run over me, and I felt myself relaxing and calming down a bit.

Once I was dressed, I plopped down on my couch and just sat there for a while. My mind kept going over what had happened and who would want to break-in. The police had suggested that it was probably kids, but I didn't think so, and I hoped that the security cameras caught a glimpse of whomever it was. The only things that had been taken were coins despite the fact that there was some valuable jewelry right next to them. Someone had been targeting the coins, and that made me think of Demitri Voltaire.

* * *

 **a/n: Thanks for your patience while I got this up! As always, let me know what you thought, and I'll see you next week!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you all so much for reading/reviewing, favoriting! Makes my day! Also a huge thanks to my beta for helping me out! I've gone and rewritten a few things since I got this back from her, so if you see mistakes blame me.**

* * *

… **..B…..**

It was two in the morning, and Emmett and I had just finished wrapping up a case, and we found ourselves starving. We had just grabbed a couple of burgers from a fast food joint when a call came in over the radio. There was a burglary in progress at 1221 Main Street, and the address seemed familiar to me although I couldn't figure out why.

We ate our burgers in the car for the next few minutes, listening to the call out, before it dawned on me why the address was so familiar.

"That's Edward's place!" I gasped, tossing my half eaten burger into the bag. I was ready to race over there, but Emmett stopped me.

"Let the officers on the call out do their job," he said lightly. "We'll stop by after they're done. We'd just be in the way."

I nodded my head, knowing he was right, but my heart was racing. I hoped like hell nothing bad had happened to Edward, but I didn't hear a call for an ambulance over the radio, so I assumed no one was hurt.

Almost two hours later, I was itching to go see Edward, and Emmett had been teasing me ruthlessly.

"You really should invite him over to my place this weekend. The more the merrier," he said with a grin, and I rolled my eyes.

Not too much later, I parked our car in front of Edward's store, and I winced when I saw the damage that had been done to one of the front windows. It had been completely shattered as if a rock or a brick had been thrown through it.

Minutes later, Edward was letting us inside, and I felt awful when I saw the damage that lay before us. It looked like someone had just tossed everything they could find onto the shop's floor, not caring whether they broke things or not. Plus, there was fingerprint dust everywhere. Although from what we'd heard over the radio, the perp had worn gloves.

We offered to help clean-up, and it took us hours to get things reasonably clean. Edward told us he'd sort out his inventory later that day because he was keeping the shop closed until he could get things fixed.

After the place was fairly clean, we agreed to meet at the diner for breakfast, and I couldn't wait to go home and shower but first, I had to drop Emmett off at the station first so he could get his car. I was also in desperate need of sleep, but I was starving as well, so I figured I would sleep after breakfast. Thankfully, Emmett and I had the next two days off.

After a quick shower, I put on a pair of old jeans with holes in them, a soft worn t-shirt that was one of my favorites, and a pair of purple Chucks. I put my hair into a braid, applied a swipe of mascara and a bit of lip gloss, and I was good to go.

I arrived at Lucy's at the same time Emmett did, and I saw Edward through the window, sitting at his usual booth.

"I'm starving!" Emmett boomed as we slid into the booth, and Edward let out a chuckle.

"You and me both."

The nice thing about Lucy's was that you could order anything off the menu at any given time of day, and even though I'd had a burger several hours earlier, I was starving.

Lucy came over not long after we'd taken our seats, and I saw a twinkle in her eye as she glanced at me and then at Edward. I rolled my eyes at her, which caused her to chuckle, before placing my order.

"Thanks again for helping out," Edward said, and we both waved him off.

"No, really. You didn't have to, so thank you. I'm sorry if I ruined any plans that you had."

I let out a small laugh. "I don't usually have too many plans at five in the morning besides sleeping, and I can do that after we eat."

Emmett nodded and said pretty much the same thing.

"Although, my girls will be up by the time I get home, and they'll want to play for a while."

As we sat around talking, we began to talk about the burglary.

"Whoever it was took most of my coins and completely trashed my desk. Obviously, they were looking for something," he told us.

"Who do the cops think it was?" Emmett asked.

Edward shrugged before answering. "They think it was kids, but I don't think so. Kids or drug addicts would have grabbed whatever they could have, but this guy …. he was after coins. I also had a guy come in a while ago asking about an extremely rare coin. I didn't have any clues on the whereabouts of it, but he seemed to think I did. He called me a few days ago, asking about it again. It seems just a bit too coincidental to me."

I set down the glass in my hand and stared at him.

"Did you tell the officers that?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, but they didn't seem to think that was relevant. They're pretty convinced it was just some kids causing trouble," he said quietly, and inwardly, I was seething. There was nothing worse than lazy police work.

"What's the name of the guy calling you?" I asked, pulling a small notebook out of my purse.

"Demitri Voltaire. I can't find much on him except that he works for some Italian company called Volterra."

I told Edward I'd look into the guy and let him know if I found anything else. I'd also be having a talk with the officer in charge of the case.

My mind wandered off a bit, wondering if this guy was some kind of international coin thief, before tuning back into the conversation where Edward was asking Emmett if he had any plans for the weekend.

"I'm having a get together tomorrow night. You should stop by, Edward. We're both new in town, so it can't hurt for us to make some friends, right?" he asked with a grin, and Edward let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah, my sister keeps telling me I need to find some friends, so, your barbeque sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the invite," Edward said.

Emmett got up to use the bathroom, and while he was gone, Edward asked if I had any plans for the evening.

"Probably not. Why what's up?" I asked him, and he mumbled something that had me leaning in closer so I could hear him.

"Want to grab some dinner tonight around seven or so?" he asked, his voice quiet and rushed, and there was a blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" I asked him, and by now, his face was incredibly red before he told me to forget about it.

"Edward," I said, putting a hand on his arm. "I'd love to."

By six that evening, I had showered and was digging around in my closet, trying to decide what to wear. I was normally a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, except when it came to work, but I felt I should dress up a bit for my date with Edward.

It took a few minutes, but I found a blue knee-length dress that I could pair with a light sweater since it was still a little cool out.

After picking out my outfit, I blew dry my hair, curled it, and put on some makeup. Done with that, I slipped on the dress, put the sweater on, and grabbed a pair of ballet flats from the closet.

Looking at myself in the full length mirror hanging on the closet door, I had to admit, I didn't look half bad.

At seven on the dot, my doorbell rang, making me jump a bit. I pressed a hand to my stomach to try and settle the butterflies that had suddenly begun fluttering around before opening the door.

Edward looked amazing. He was wearing a dark blazer, a button down shirt, and khakis, and his hair was a delicious mess that I wanted to run my fingers through.

"Wow," he said softly upon seeing me. "You look fantastic, Bella."

I felt my cheeks heat up at his compliment, and I thanked him before telling him how good he looked.

"So where are we headed?" I asked as he held open the car door for me.

"The Pier Steakhouse," he told me, and my eyebrows shot up. The Pier Steakhouse was the most expensive restaurant in Port Angeles. Although, judging by the fact that Edward drove a shiny new Volvo and had a lot of expensive items in his shop, it seemed that he had money.

"I … uh … I've got to admit, I'm out of practice when it comes to dating," he told me quietly once we were in the car, and I looked over at him and smiled.

"I hear you. I haven't been on a date in almost a year," I told him. "And, I haven't dated anyone seriously in almost two years."

"I was with my ex for four years. Our breakup left me a bit bitter, and I haven't been out with anyone since," he said, and I wanted to lean over and place a kiss on his cheek and wipe away the anger I saw in his eyes. She'd done one hell of a number on him, and I felt a fierce sense of protection.

"Well, I'm sure between the two of us, we can fumble our way through this date," I teased with a grin. "After all, you've done a great job wowing me already."

"Yeah?" he asked, shooting a glance my way, and I nodded my head.

We arrived at The Pier Steakhouse fifteen minutes later, and after parking the car, Edward rushed around so he could open my door for me. I couldn't recall the last man that had opened a car door for me, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. The independent part of me wanted to tell him I was capable of opening my own door, but the romantic in me, found it incredibly sweet and very gentlemanly.

"Sorry, it's a habit," he said, almost as if he'd read my mind. "My mother raised me to be a gentleman."

"Well, thank you, sir."

We walked into the restaurant side-by-side, so close that our hands brushed against one another's a couple of times, and I just wanted to reach out and grab his hand.

"Reservation for Cullen," he told the hostess once we were inside, and a few minutes later, we were led to a small, cozy table for two, tucked in a corner.

I did my best not to wince when I saw the prices, but I must have.

"Please don't worry about the cost," Edward said softly. "I can afford to take a beautiful woman out on a date."

"Oh, you're a charmer, aren't you, Edward Cullen?"

His cheeks turned pink at my words, and I let out a small laugh. He was too cute and unlike any man I'd met before. He was genuinely sweet.

Turning my attention back to the menu, I took a good look at it, doing my best to ignore the prices staring up at me.

"Do you know what you want?" Edward asked me after a few minutes.

"I'm thinking steak. Nothing I love more than a juicy piece of meat."

Edward choked on the sip of water that he'd just taken and his face flushed. I wondered for a second what that was about before realizing what I'd said a moment before, and I held back a small snicker that wanted to escape.

"What are you going to get?" I asked,

"Steak as well," he said with a smile.

After we placed our order with the waiter, we ended up playing twenty questions. Sure, we knew a bit about each other already, but now we were learning all kinds of things.

"So you're into sci-fi?" I asked him, eating around the lettuce that was on my plate. I hated the fucking stuff.

"I love it," he said, his eyes sparkling. "I watch shows, movies, read books, and even go to conventions. I guess I'm a bit of a geek."

"I don't mind the occasional sci-fi show," I told him, and he grinned.

"Oh, yeah? Maybe tomorrow we can watch something after Emmett's get together," he suggested. "We should watch some _Doctor Who_."

"Is that the one with a phone booth?" I asked, knowing very well that it wasn't. Afterall, I'd named my cat after the Doctor's planet.

"It's a police box. Bill and Ted had a phone booth," he said, and I grinned at how heated his voice got.

"I know. I was just teasing. It's the one sci-fi show that I love, and I'd love to come over to your place tomorrow night."

His smile could have lit up the sky.

Our dinner was fabulous, and I had to admit, it was the best steak I'd ever eaten, and I'd eaten a lot of steaks in my life. It was the one thing that my dad was good at grilling besides fish.

"Would you like dessert?" our waiter asked after we'd finished our meal, and both Edward and I shook our heads. I was so full, I wasn't sure I'd even be able to walk out to the car.

After Edward paid for our meal, we made our way to his car. I wasn't quite ready for the night to end, so I suggested we go for a walk along the pier.

I directed Edward to the public parking area a few miles away where we could begin our walk.

"We should hit up the Ediz Hook Reservation during the day when it's a bit warmer," I told him.

"What's that?"

"It's a strip of land that juts out into the Port Angeles Harbor and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It's only a few miles from here," I told him.

"Sounds like a plan. Perhaps, you can show me around this whole town at some point. I haven't really ventured very far from my store," he said sheepishly. "I guess I was just waiting for a good tour guide."

"How about sometime next weekend?" I asked him. "The weather is supposed warm up starting this week."

"I have to look at my schedule," he said, and I couldn't help but feel a sting at his words. That sounded like someone who was trying to blow me off without saying that he wasn't interested.

"Oh. Well, whenever," I said with a shrug, trying to act like it was no big deal.

Edward let out a groan as he stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Bella, I didn't mean that to come out sounding the way it did. I mean it when I say I have to look at my schedule because I know there are a couple of large auctions coming up in Seattle that I need to go to, but I don't remember the dates off the top of my head. If I'm around next weekend, I'd love to hit up the reservation place with you."

"Are you sure?" I asked, still feeling slightly rejected. "I don't want you to feel like you have to spend time with me or anything. I mean, it's not like we're dating."

He moved until he was standing right in front of me. His hands reached out to cup my face, and I looked up into those pretty, green eyes.

"I love spending time with you. It's something that I look forward to, and I can hardly get you off my mind. As for us not dating … well, I certainly wouldn't mind changing that if you are interested. I like you a lot, Bella. More than I've liked anyone in a long time, but it terrifies me."

I stared at him for a moment as his words soaked in. The man had just admitted that he liked me a lot and wanted to date me. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was pressing my lips to his.

One of his hands left my face, and he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer, and I let out a moan when his tongue parted my lips and lightly teased my own.

We lost ourselves in the kiss, and when we finally broke away, I felt a tad light headed. I couldn't recall the last time I'd been kissed with such passion.

"So, I guess you're okay with me wanting to date you?" Edward asked with a teasing grin, and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well, I don't tend to kiss men that I'm not interested in," I replied. "But yes, to answer your question. I would love to date you."

We kissed a few times more before the wind really began to pick up, the temperature around us growing increasingly chilly. We finally decided to call it a night, and I held Edward's hand as he drove me home. I was reluctant to let go of him when we pulled into my driveway, and I was more than tempted to ask him to spend the night.

"Goodnight, sweet girl," he said, leaning in to place another kiss on my lips that quickly turned heated.

"I'm so tempted to ask you in," I mumbled against his lips before we broke apart, and I watched as that cute blush rose on his cheeks.

"I probably wouldn't say no," he answered honestly. "However, I don't want to ruin things between us by rushing into this relationship."

I nodded in understanding. I'd rushed things in my last couple of relationships, and they obviously hadn't ended well. I desperately wanted things with Edward to work out. It was scary how much I liked him in such a short amount of time of knowing one another.

"Do you want to ride with Jake and me tomorrow to Emmett's?" I asked him as I opened my car door.

"Sure. I'm pretty bad with directions, so that would be great."

"There's this thing called a GPS, you know," I teased, and he let out a laugh.

"I still manage to get lost using it," he admitted, and I couldn't control the giggle that burst out of me.

"How is that even possible?"

"I tune it out and don't pay attention to what the voice is telling me to do."

I couldn't help but laugh at his admission. "We'll pick you up around five, okay?"

He nodded before insisting on walking me to my door. We spent a few more minutes saying goodbye and eventually, he placed one last kiss on my lips.

I locked the front door behind me and leaned against it for a moment thinking about the kisses I'd shared with Edward. The man was dangerous, in a good way, and I just hoped like hell my heart didn't get broken.

* * *

 **a/n: Let me hear your thoughts!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I apologize for the delay in this chapter. My husband's grandmother passed away earlier last week from cancer (as well as far too many other people; Bowie, Rickman, Grizzly Adams, Celine Dion's husband and brother), and her funeral was on Saturday.**

 **A huge thanks to all of you for reading/reviewing this story, and an even bigger thanks to my beta, Heather, for her awesome skills. I did tweak this chapter a bit after I got it back, so any mistakes are mine.**

* * *

… **..E….**

As I drove home after dropping Bella off, I couldn't believe the night I'd had. I had never anticipated that it would end up the way it did, but I was so glad that it had.

When she'd kissed me, I'd about lost my damn mind, and it was all I could do not to take her right then and there. She was … amazing. There was no other word for it. I'd never been so attracted to anyone in my life, and that included Tanya. Oh sure, I'd been attracted to her, but it was nothing compared to what I felt for Bella.

Just as I pulled into the parking lot behind the shop, my phone rang, and I saw that it was Alice. I knew if I didn't answer it, she would just keep calling back and leaving me messages, and I wouldn't put it past her to drive down here just to bug me. Alice was just that nosey.

"Hello, sister dear," I answered as I got out of my car, locked it, and made my way toward the stairs that led up to my apartment.

"Why didn't you tell me that your store had been broken into?" she cried out, and I blinked, having totally forgotten for a few hours about what had happened.

"How did you find out?" I asked in return, and she let out a huff.

"Answer me, Edward Anthony Cullen!"

"Okay. I'm sorry I didn't let you know. My mind wasn't in the right place, and I was really freaked out by what happened. The police are looking for whoever did it, and I spent all morning with the insurance company. It's been a bit stressed and hectic."

"Oh, Edward. I'm so sorry. You aren't hurt, are you?" she asked, and I told her no as I unlocked the door to my apartment.

"I'm just pissed off that my display window is broken and that I lost some inventory. It could have been worse, I suppose, so I'm grateful that nothing else was broken or taken. So how did you find out?"

"I'm psychic," was her response, and it was my turn to let out a huff. Alice always knew when things happened, and ever since we were little, she'd always claim it was because she was psychic.

"Well, thanks for calling and giving me a heads up," I muttered as I plopped down on the couch.

"I can only see things after they happen. You know that," she said in a haughty tone just as I let out a yawn.

"I'm going to let you go since you sound tired, but Edward, I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks, Ali. I'll talk to you later," I told her, hanging up the phone.

A cheesy smile came over my face as I thought about Bella, and I still couldn't believe that she was my girl. That sounded so old fashioned, but I couldn't help it. My dad called my mom his girl all the time, and I guess it was something I'd picked up on.

Getting up off the couch, I made my way toward my bedroom where I stripped down to my boxers before climbing into bed.

I had just shut off my bedside table lamp and was close to sleep when my phone rang, and I let out a groan when I saw it was Alice calling back.

"What?" I asked.

"What aren't you telling me?" she asked. "I tried to call you earlier, but you didn't answer your phone. You always answer your phone.

"I was out."

She let out a gasp, and I groaned.

"You were on a date!? How was it?"

"Since you can see things after they happen, then you should know how it went," I told her by way of answering.

I heard Jasper cracking up in the background, so he must have heard me.

"Shut up, Jasper!" Alice hollered before turning her attention back to me. "I can't believe you didn't tell me about your date when I talked to you earlier. I mean, really. I'm your favorite sister, and I only want the best for my big brother."

"You're my only sister," I responded as I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling.

"That still makes me your favorite sister," she shot back, and I let out a sigh. "Now tell me about your date."

For the next ten minutes, I told her what she wanted to know, and when I mentioned that Bella and I were officially dating, she let out a squeal that about burst my eardrum.

"When can I meet her?" Alice demanded to know once she'd calmed down.

"You already have, remember? When she was at the store with her dad and stepmother."

"That doesn't count. I want to meet her, meet her. Oh, I know. Bring her up here when you go to that auction."

I held back a groan when Alice mentioned meeting Bella again. Knowing her, she was going to interrogate Bella.

"I'll ask her. I promise," I told Alice after listening to her beg and plead for a couple of minutes.

It took another twenty minutes before I got Alice off the phone, but it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

* * *

The shop was consistently busy on Saturday morning, and I was more than ready to close the doors when four o'clock came around. Of course, Shelly Cope showed up right as I was closing and demanded that I let her in. I shut the door in her face and told her to come back on Monday, to which she was none too pleased, and yelled at me that I was going to lose customers with my attitude. The only customer I cared to lose was her, and she wasn't even a customer; just a pain in my ass.

As soon as I was sure Mrs. Cope was gone, I locked the doors, set the alarm, and went upstairs to change into jeans and a t-shirt before putting on a pair of beat up sneakers that would cause Alice to have a heart attack if she saw them. Ever since my breakup with Tanya, who had been all about name brand clothes, I'd gotten a bit more relaxed with what I wore.

A beeping on my phone had me grabbing it, and I saw a text from Bella saying she'd be there in ten minutes.

I took a look at myself in the mirror, attempted to fix the mess that was my hair, and then grabbed my wallet and locked up my apartment.

"Edward, this is Jacob Black, my best friend. Jake, this is Edward, my boyfriend," Bella said once I was in the backseat of her car.

Jake twisted himself around a bit to shake my hand, and I did my best not to wince at the fierce grip he gave my hand.

"Break her heart, and I'll break you," he said, which had Bella smacking his arm and telling him to behave.

"Fair enough," I replied, rubbing my hand once he'd turned back around.

It was a twenty minute drive to Emmett's house, and Jacob kept up a steady stream of conversation although most of it seemed one sided, and he rarely waited for an answer before moving on to another subject. He reminded me a lot of Alice in that sense.

"Are you a Seahawks fan?" he asked me as we turned down a tree-lined street, and I shook my head.

"I'm from Chicago. I'm a diehard Bears fan," I told him, and his face fell.

"Oh, man. I'm sorry to hear that," he said, and I shrugged. I'd heard it all before when I'd lived in Boston.

"I think we're here," Bella said, pulling up in front of a brick house that had several cars in the driveway.

We got out, and Bella grabbed a couple packs of beer from the trunk, and then Jacob and I followed her up the walk and onto the front porch where Emmett greeted us in a loud booming voice as he opened the door.

"Come on back, guys," he said, and we followed him through the house and into the kitchen where he put the beer in the fridge and then led us out the backdoor to a fenced in backyard.

There were several people hanging out in the yard as well as two little girls running around with some dolls in their hands, and I recalled that Emmett had mentioned that he had daughters.

Leading us over to a group of three people, Emmett introduced to his wife, Rose, as well as his neighbors who lived across the street.

"Bella Swan," Rose said with a smile before wrapping Bella up in a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm good, Rosalie. It's nice seeing you again. I couldn't believe it when Emmett mentioned that he'd married a woman from Forks named Rosalie."

"Call me Rose," the blonde insisted before shaking my hand as well as Jacob's.

"It's so good to see you again, Bella. I'm just sorry that you have to work this big lug," she said with a teasing grin at her husband who just shook his head.

"He's not so bad," Bella replied, shooting a wink Emmett's way.

"Ha! I'll remember you said that," she said with a grin.

We stood around talking with Rose and her neighbors when the sound of a phone ringing echoed through the air.

"So where are you from, Edward?" one of Rose's neighbors asked me as Rose went to answer the phone.

"Chicago. I needed and wanted a change of scenery, so I moved out here. My grandfather lived here when I was kid."

"Well, welcome to Washington. It's a great place to live," she told me, and I agreed with her. I was definitely enjoying life in Washington, for the most part, and most of that had to do with the brunette by my side.

We all sat around talking and drinking cold beers, and I felt a tug of envy as I watched Emmett playing with his girls. I'd never really given much thought to having a wife and kids, but I could see myself having a family with Bella, and that was a bit scary.

A beeping on my phone broke me out of my thoughts, and I glanced down to see an email from an old friend.

"Everything okay?" Bella asked me, and I nodded as I put my phone away. I'd look at it later.

"Well, Jessica and Lauren should be arriving soon, and then we can start eating," Rose said, and I noticed Bella grimace.

"You know them?" I asked in a quiet voice, and both she and Jacob nodded.

"They were the mean girls back in high school," she told me, and Jacob chimed in that he was sure they hadn't changed.

"I just hope that asshat, Michael Newton, isn't with them," she muttered before shooting Jacob a death glare when he started laughing.

"Oh, man. Newton had a massive crush on Bella and followed her around like a dog in heat," Jacob explained, and I tried to hold back a snicker. Although, I certainly couldn't fault the guy because my Bella was gorgeous.

"Oh, yeah. Laugh it up, you two," she scowled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sorry," I told her as I placed a kiss to the side of her head although Jacob and I both shared a smirk when she wasn't looking.

A few minutes later, we heard a car pull up, and the squeals of two females could be heard from the front yard.

"I guess they're here," Bella muttered, taking the beer that Emmett handed to her.

"Yeah, Rosie told me they can get a bit loud," he said, and Bella rolled her eyes as she told him that was an understatement.

Rose hollered for Emmett to come help her for a second, so he asked us if we could watch the girls for a second. His daughters were four and six, and they had taken an instant liking to me for some reason. I never knew how to act around kids, but these two little girls didn't seem to care.

"Tea party, Mr. Edward," the youngest said, pulling on my hands, and I shot a look over at Bella who was trying to hide a smile.

I got up and followed the two girls to a picnic blanket that Rose had put out for them a few minutes after we'd arrived. I sat down cross-legged and took the tiny plastic cup of invisible tea that was handed to me.

As I sat talking and drinking with the girls, I heard a snapping noise and turned around in time to see Bella putting her phone away.

"Mr. Edward, you're not drinking your tea," the youngest girl, Hannah, said.

Just as I was taking a sip, Emmett and Rose walked out with three people behind them. A tall woman with stringy blonde hair, a shorter woman with hair that went out of style in the 80s, and a rather plain looking guy with blonde hair.

"Oh, my God! Bella Swan!" the woman with stringy hair exclaimed in a nasally voice, and I awkwardly got up from the blanket and made my way toward the group, keeping an eye on the guy who was eyeing Bella like she was a piece of meat.

"I haven't seen you in forever," the woman said, and Bella gave her a fake smile.

"It's good to see you, Lauren. How are you?"

"Fantastic!" she said, tossing her stringy hair back behind her shoulder.

The other woman, Jessica, gave Bella an insincere greeting before eyeing Jacob who looked more than a little scared.

"Hey, Bella," the guy finally said, trying to hug her, but she wasn't having it.

"Mike," she replied in a cool tone. "Oh, you remember my best friend, Jake, don't you?" she asked, and Newton's face paled as he glanced over at Jacob.

"Yeah."

"And this is my boyfriend, Edward," Bella said, reaching out and taking my hand.

I waved to the three of them, giving them small smiles, and I was completely aware of the looks I was getting from them. Mike looked like he wanted to punch me in the face while the girls were looking at me with an almost predatory gaze.

Sensing a bit of tension between everyone, Emmett broke it up by asking us whether we wanted burgers or steaks, and Jake offered to help man the grill, leaving me free to be by Bella's side should I need to come to her rescue. Knowing Bella, however, she would be perfectly capable of handling those girls as well as Newton.

"So how do you know Bella?" Lauren asked me as she sat down a little too close to me, and I, as a result, scooted closer to Bella.

"We met a few weeks ago when she came into my store," I said, looking over at Bella. "And I fell for her right away."

Rose and Bella both let out sweet sighs, but I caught Lauren rolling her eyes at my answer. I honestly didn't give a shit what she thought, but if she went after Bella, I was going to lose my shit.

Thankfully, the two women kept their mouths shut for the most part, but it was Newton's stares that had my hackles rising. If he didn't stop staring, I was going to hand his eyeballs to him.

"Michael!" Jessica hissed, and he turned to look at her, not even caring that his girlfriend had busted him staring at Bella.

"What?"

She just glared at him, and he glared right back. They obviously had an unhealthy relationship.

At some point, Bella left to use the restroom, and Jacob was in conversation with Emmett, leaving me to deal with Lauren and her very unwanted advances. The second Bella got up, Lauren scooted so close to me that our thighs were touching and that's when I stood up from the picnic table.

"You can't honestly be serious about Bella Swan," Lauren said, trailing a finger down my arm, and I immediately jerked my arm away.

Did this woman not understand that I didn't want her near me?

"Yes, I am serious about her, and I don't appreciate you trying to undermine my relationship with her."

She completely ignored me and reached out to touch my arm again, and I about snapped. I had been raised to be a gentleman, but I was having a hard time maintaining my composure.

"Don't touch me again," I warned her, and Lauren just let out a little laugh as if I was joking.

"I'm not kidding," I told her. "I don't know you nor do I want to. What I want is for you to leave me alone."

"Is there a problem here?" I heard Bella ask, and I sighed with relief.

Before I could answer her, Lauren spoke up and told Bella that the two of us were having a private conversation. I shook my head to indicate otherwise, and Bella put a hand on her hip as she raised an eyebrow at Lauren.

"Always trying to steal other people's boyfriends, aren't you? Haven't you grown out of that yet?" she asked, and Lauren's face turned red, and I was seriously afraid I was going to end up in the middle of a fight.

Thankfully, Rose saw what was going on and dragged Lauren away, hissing furiously at her, and I sighed in relief.

"I was afraid you were going to hit her," I told Bella, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close.

"If she'd touched you one more time, I probably would have," she admitted, and I couldn't resist leaning down to place a kiss on her lips.

"Everything okay?" Jacob asked, coming over to us, and we both nodded although Bella shot a nasty look in Lauren's direction.

The rest of the evening passed quickly, and I'd managed to gain a new customer when Rose's neighbor, Joey, mentioned he was interested in pocket watches and asked if I had any. I told him I did, and he promised he'd stop by during the week.

"Antique stores are for old people," Newton said, and I narrowed my eyes at him. He shot me a smirk, and I knew he was trying to rile me up.

"And old people spend lots of money on those antiques," I replied with my own smirk.

"Whatever," he said with a scoff, and I rolled my eyes at his behavior.

By ten o'clock, Jessica, Newton, and Lauren had left as well as Rose and Emmett's neighbors, leaving us alone with them.

"Let's do this again but without the addition of some of our guests," Rose said, and Bella and I agreed before calling it a night.

We drove over to La Push where Jacob lived and dropped him off in front of his small house with a huge truck in the driveway.

"It was good meeting you, Edward," he said as he got out, and I returned the sentiment.

Once we'd dropped Jacob off, I pulled out my phone but put it back after a second. I didn't want Bella to think I was being rude.

"Just read it, Edward," she said with a grin, so I pulled out my phone to look at the email that I had received earlier.

I quickly scrolled through the email from my friend who stated that he hadn't heard anything about Flowing Hair dollars being on the market and the one in particular we both knew about was still in possession of the guy who spent ten million dollars on it.

"Everything okay?" Bella asked as we drove down Burberry Street.

"Yeah. Just got an email from an old friend stating that the coin that Voltaire guy is looking for is still in the possession of the man who bought it. There aren't others like it for sale."

"So, why would that Volatire guy think you have it when it's obvious you don't?"

"I don't know."

"The timing is a bit suspicious," Bella agreed.

A little while later, we were pulling into the parking lot behind my building.

"You're still coming in, right?" I asked her as I opened my door.

"If you still want me to," she replied, and I nodded my head.

I led her up the stairs to my apartment where I unlocked the door and turned off the alarm before resetting it once we were safely inside.

I stood back with my hands in my pocket and watched as she walked around the apartment, looking at my stuff. She looked good in my apartment, and I hoped she'd be hanging around there more often.

"Do you want anything to drink?" I asked, coming up behind her where she stood looking at some pictures on the wall.

"Sure."

I made my way into the kitchen with Bella following me, and I opened the fridge, letting her know what her options were.

Minutes later, Bella was seated on my couch with a glass of tea in her hands, and I was putting the first blu-ray of _Doctor Who_ into the player.

I sat down next to her after pressing play on the remote, and I grinned when the opening sequence began and Bella began to hum along with the theme music.

I'd never had a date who enjoyed the show. Tanya certainly never had. She'd always huffed and told me that I was being too much of a geek.

I spent the majority of the first episode, watching Bella watch the show. Sometimes she'd grab the remote and pause to engage me in conversation about the episode, and I loved it.

By the time we'd finished the first episode, I was done watching the show and completely focused on her, especially when she was curled up next to me.

"What?" she asked, and I shook my head, unable to resist pressing a kiss to her lips.

I soon found myself being pushed back against the couch with Bella on top of me. My hands found purchase on her hips, and I tugged her even closer, knowing that she could feel how hard I was for her. It was ridiculous how quickly she turned me on, and she let out a moan that didn't help my situation at all.

Bella scooted up a bit so that she was straddling my hips. I could feel the heat of her through her jeans, and I couldn't hold back the moan that escaped from my lips.

She wiggled just enough to cause me to let out a hiss as she settled more firmly against me, and then her fingers were in my hair, and her tongue was stroking mine. After that, all thoughts left my head except for the thought of getting closer to her.

At some point, we ended up rolling over on the couch, almost falling off in the process, and I was soon nestled between her warm thighs. That was when my hands developed a mind of their own. I slid one of my hands up her side, grazing the side of a breast and then back down to her hips. I didn't want to push her further than she was ready to go, and I didn't want her to think I was a perv who just had sex on the brain.

"Is this okay?" I murmured against her lips, and she nodded yes. "Are you sure? I don't want to move too fast."

"You're fine," she said, grabbing my wrist and guiding it toward her breast.

It didn't take me long to mold my hand around that wonderful orb that filled my hand perfectly. I gently squeezed her breast, lightly pinching her hardened nipple, and relishing in the moan that left her lips.

We lost ourselves to passion, kissing, rubbing, and just feeling one another until my phone rang startling the hell out of both of us. I fumbled around for it on the coffee table and practically fell off the couch in order to reach the damn thing.

I finally grabbed it off the floor where I'd managed to knock it and saw that my mom had called. Nothing like your mom calling to cool things down.

My phone rang again, and I sighed.

"Sorry, Bella," I said with a wry smile. "My mom's calling, and if I don't get this, she'll keep calling back."

"It's okay," she told me, sweeping her hair off her shoulders as she sat up.

"Mind if I use your bathroom?" she asked, and I shook my head and pointed her toward the bathroom door.

While Bella was in there, I sat down on the couch and returned my mom's call.

"Edward! Are you okay?" my mom asked the second she answered, and I winced at the worry I heard in her voice. I should have known that Alice would rat me out.

"I'm fine, Mom," I assured her just as Bella came out of the bathroom and sat down next to me.

I gave her a smile as she leaned her head against my shoulder as I talked to my mom.

"Tell me about this girl you're seeing," Mom demanded to know, and Bella let out a small laugh when she overheard my mom.

Mom obviously heard Bella as well because she let out a gasp and told me she'd let me go and to enjoy my evening.

As I hung up the phone, Bella told me that I could have kept talking to my mom, but I shook my head before leaning down and kissing her lips.

Of course, I couldn't just kiss her once. We kissed for a few more minutes until we both parted in order to breathe, and then she let out a huge yawn.

A glance at the clock on the wall showed me that it was almost one in the morning, and it had been a long weekend.

I walked Bella out to her car, dropped a kiss onto her lips, and stood in the parking lot, watching to make sure she made it to the road safely.

With a silly grin on my face, I made my way back inside and collapsed on the couch. I was too keyed up from my time with Bella to go to sleep, so I watched a couple more episodes of _Doctor Who_ before sleep kicked in.

I woke up a couple of hours later, still sprawled out on the couch. Getting up, I hit up the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and then hopped into bed after undressing.

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 **a/n: Thanks so much for reading! Let me know what you thought!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Howdy folks! I apologize for the delay in posting. RL got in the way. I think I'm going to say from here on out that I'm going to post on Sunday OR Monday. I will do my best, however, to get it done on Sunday.**

 **For those of you on the East coast who got hit with this storm, I hope you're safe and warm.**

 **Huge thanks to you all for reading/reviewing, and a huge thank you to my beta for her skills!**

* * *

… **..B…...**

"Hey, Swan! I got that info you wanted," Archie Sanders, our resident IT guy, said as he approached my desk.

I rolled my chair away and looked up at the gangly blond in front of me.

"What did you find out?"

Sanders propped a hip up on the side of my desk as he opened up a folder that was in his hands.

"Before I tell you what I found out, I just want you to know that you owe me big time. I called in all kinds of favor for this info."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll grab you a venti caramel macchiato and two cranberry orange scones on my lunch break," I promised. "Now, gimme."

"Demitri Voltaire was born Demitri Abbatelli January 15, 1959, in Vienna, Italy. He had a rather boring childhood. His father was a tailor, and his mother was a housewife. He dropped out of high school when he was in the eleventh grade. He doesn't surface again until he began working for the Volterra Corporation when he was in his mid-twenties."

I really hoped that wasn't all Sanders had for me, and he must have seen the look on my face because he hurriedly continued on.

"Voltaire's boss, Aro Caius, is one of the wealthiest men in Italy and has a love of antiques. He sends Voltaire out to hunt down extremely rare and valuable items to add to his collections, and rumor has it, Voltaire is willing to do anything and everything to get whatever it is his boss wants."

"Does he have a record?" I asked.

"Sort of," Sanders replied. "He's been arrested numerous times in various cities and countries, but he's never been convicted. Of course, when your boss is a billionaire with a long reach, chances are good you'll never do time."

"Is he violent?"

Sanders handed me the folder in his hands, and I flipped it open to look at the arrest records he'd printed out. Half of them weren't in English, but Sanders had written translations out next to them. Most of the arrests were for burglary, but there were a few arrests for assault and one for attempted murder. I was appalled that the man had walked away without any recourse for his actions, and now it seemed that he was after Edward. I wasn't going to stand by and let that happen.

"Thanks, Sanders," I said, tucking the file into the laptop case beside my desk.

Sanders nodded and went back to his desk, and I sat there for a few minutes, trying to decide on my next course of action.

Getting up, I made my way toward the break room to fill my coffee mug, and I spotted Officer Leaf sitting at a table with a newspaper open in front of him. He was one of the officers working on Edward's case, so I decided to approach him and ask him a few questions.

"Hey, Swan," Leaf said as I sat down next to him. "What's up?"

"You're working that burglary at the antique shop, right?" I asked, and he nodded his head and put his paper down.

"Yeah, it's your boyfriend's place, right?" he asked, and I barely held back a sigh. Apparently, everyone on the force knew whom I was dating now.

I nodded my head and asked if they had any leads, but he shook his head. He told me that the security cameras had been covered with spray paint and the perp had worn gloves. They didn't have much to go on at all.

"I know Edward mentioned that he'd had some strange guy come in to the shop. Have you looked into that?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant. The last thing I wanted to do was tell another cop how to do his job, but I needed to know if they'd even considered Voltaire as a suspect.

"Yeah, Moran looked into it, but the guy had an alibi," he told me, and I thanked him for his time.

It seemed to me that Voltaire had probably hired someone to do his dirty work for him. Perhaps, he was tired of getting arrested and had finally gotten smart enough to realize he could hire someone to break into the shop for him.

"Everything okay?" Emmett asked after I sat back down at my desk.

I shrugged before explaining what I'd learned about Demitri Voltaire and how the cops had nothing to go on in Edward's case.

"We'll keep an eye out, Swan. You know that," he said, and I nodded my head. I knew we would, but it didn't make me feel any better. I was seriously worried that this Voltaire guy wasn't going to stop until he had what he wanted, and for some reason, he thought Edward had it.

Later that night as I was laying on my couch, watching a _CSI_ rerun, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I came to one. I hovered over the number, debating whether or not to call it, before giving in and pushing the button to connect the call.

"Yorkie," a voice grumbled over the phone, and I took a deep breath before speaking.

"Eric, it's Bella Swan," I said, wincing as a string of curses came rumbling across the phone.

Eric Yorkie was an FBI Agent in his mid-forties and my former boyfriend. We had dated for two years when I was in my early twenties. It had been hot and heavy and had ended badly. He'd asked me to marry him, but I'd turned him down. I hadn't been in love with him the way he'd been with me, and I'd just started the police academy.

"What do you want?" Eric spat, and I knew this wasn't going to go well.

"I need your help," I said, and he let out a harsh laugh.

"Of course, the first time you call me in years, and it's because you need my help."

"Eric," I began with a sigh. "You and I weren't meant to be, and you know it. How many times did we break up and get back together? A marriage between us would have never worked."

I heard him mumble something, and I barely stopped an eye roll. Eric was a master when it came to mumbling which had caused more than a few fights between us.

"You're right," he finally said in a resigned voice. "So what can I help you with?"

Over the course of the next thirty minutes, I explained to Eric what was going on. I told him about Edward, about the break-in, and about Demitri Voltaire, and the second I mentioned Voltaire's name, Eric went on high alert.

"Did you say Demitri Voltaire?"

"Yeah, I take it you've heard of him?"

"Fuck, Bella. What the hell have you gotten yourself into?" he muttered.

"I know the guy has been arrested more than once, but he was never convicted. Now, he's got his sights set on my boyfriend for some reason," I said quietly.

"Shit, Bella. This guy is bad news, and his boss is a criminal mastermind. We just can't prove it. Has Edwin heard anything else from Voltaire?" he asked, and I scowled at his calling Edward by the wrong name. I knew he'd done it on purpose, but then again, I was asking my ex-boyfriend to help out my current boyfriend.

" _Edward_ hasn't heard from Voltaire recently, but he's positive he will since the rare coins Voltaire was after have suddenly become available … or so it seems. The second Edward hears from him, he'll let me know."

"And that's when I want you to let me know," he said, and I scowled at his words.

"You'll know once I do," I snapped back, and I heard him let out a sigh on the other end.

"Bella, we've been after Voltaire for years, and he's wanted in connection with a couple of murders in Boston."

"Edward used to live in Boston," I said almost as an afterthought.

"Really?"

"Yeah," I nodded even though Eric couldn't see me. "He went to college there and worked in an antique shop."

"What store?" Eric demanded to know, and I told him I wasn't sure.

"Find out and let me know," he commanded, and I promised I would, but then I asked him why.

"Depending on where he worked, Edmond may be able to help us out."

After hanging up with Eric, I opened up the laptop I kept on my coffee table and began to write up a list of what I knew about Demitri Voltiare and what the unknowns still were. I had more questions than I knew what to do with and ended up with a headache.

Saving and closing the document, I shut down my laptop and made my way toward bed. I realized after I was tucked in that I hadn't talked to Edward all day. I frowned at how much that bothered me, so I grabbed my phone off the nightstand.

I sent Edward a quick text, hoping that I wasn't waking him up, but it was only a little after ten, so I figured I'd be okay.

 _Hey, sweet girl. I was just thinking of you,_ he wrote back, and I smiled at his words.

 _I was thinking about u as well. I just realized I hadn't spoken to u all day_.

A few moments later, my phone was ringing, and I answered it when I saw it was Edward calling.

"I just wanted to hear your voice," he said warmly, and I melted a little inside. The man was too freaking sweet.

As we talked, I told him what I'd learned about Demitri Voltaire and how a guy I knew with the FBI wanted to at which shop in Boston he'd worked.

"I told the police what I knew back in Boston when the shop I'd been working at had been broken into," he told me.

"Well, Eric, the guy from the FBI, wants to know. He thinks that perhaps Voltaire is targeting you for a reason."

Edward asked for Eric's office number and told me that he'd call him in the morning. That was when I knew I should mention that Eric was my ex, but Edward took it in stride.

"He might be a bit rude," I warned, but he told me not to worry about it.

We talked until a little after eleven before calling it a night and hanging up. My sleep was restless, and my dreams were filled with dark and danger, and when I woke up, I felt like I hadn't slept at all.

I stumbled my way into the kitchen and turned the coffee pot on before padding my way to the bathroom. I took a long hot shower and then pulled on my bathrobe and made my way back to the kitchen, finding my coffee ready.

I poured my coffee into a large mug and drank it black, something I rarely did, but I needed to wake up.

By the time eight o'clock rolled around, I was on my third cup of coffee and Emmett was outside in the car, laying on the horn. Grumbling, I poured the rest of my coffee into a to-go cup and made my way outside.

"Morning sunshine," Emmett said with a smile, and I narrowed my eyes at him. He was way too fucking cheerful for first thing in the morning.

As we drove toward the station, Emmett told me there had been a strange car hanging around outside Edward's place, and I looked over at him sharply.

"What do you mean a strange car? What were you doing over at Edward's?"

"I wasn't at Edward's, but Rose was. She went over there yesterday with a co-worker to check out the store. She mentioned seeing a Rolls Royce parked across the street. I don't think there are too many people in Port Angeles who drive a Rolls Royce."

"What made her notice it?" I asked him.

"She mentioned it to Edward who told her it had been there all day, and she found that suspicious."

"She didn't happen to get the plates, did she?" I asked as I took a bite of the doughnut he'd brought for me, and a huge grin crossed his face.

"Of course, she did. She's a smart woman who's been married to a cop for quite some time. She knows what to do if she sees something suspicious. Plus, she's dealt with some nasty folks in her line of work as well. She's had drug dealers bring in their cars for repair, and one guy killed his wife and left the murder weapon in the car which Rose found while detailing it."

I still found it incredibly awesome that gorgeous, model-like Rose owned a car repair shop. It just went to show that you couldn't judge a book by its cover.

"So, whose car is it?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I haven't run the plate yet," he told me. "Rose just told me as I was leaving for work, so as soon as we get to the office, we can look it up."

"What do you bet it belongs to Demitri Voltaire?"

"That's what I'm thinking, or at least someone who works with him."

The moment we were in the office, Emmett went about searching the DMV database for the license plate number, and Banner called me into his office just as I'd sat down. Huffing, I got up and made my way into the office where I was told to shut the door.

"Relax, Swan. You're not in trouble. I just want to know how the new guy is working out."

I told him that Emmett was working out fine and that I really liked the guy. Needless to say, Banner was happy to hear that. I doubt he'd have wanted to try and find me another partner.

He also wanted to know why I'd been asking about the break-in case at Edward's.

"Moran was a bit peeved that you were asking Leaf about the case."

I explained that it was my boyfriend's store, and I just wanted to make sure everything was being done to find out who had broken in.

I went on to tell him about Demitri Voltaire and how he'd stopped by Edward's place and had called him before the break-in had happened. I also told Banner about Voltaire's sketchy history, and Banner sat back in his chair, his fingers tapping against his desk.

"Run with it," he said, and my jaw dropped. That was the last thing I expected Banner to say.

"What about Leaf and Moran? It's their case."

"Let me worry about them. If this guy is as bad as you think he is, then I need some seasoned detectives on this, and that's you and McCarty. But, I want to be kept in the loop. Is there anything else?"

That was when I grimaced because I knew I was going to have to fess up about talking with the FBI.

"ImayhavecalledanoldfriendattheFBI," I mumbled quickly, and I winced when he shouted at me.

"You did what?!"

"I'm sorry, Captain. I have an ex who works for the Feds, and I called to see if he knew anything about Voltaire. That's it. I didn't invite him in or anything."

Banner yelled at me for a few more minutes before kicking me out of his office.

By the time I got out of Banner's office, Emmett was hunched over his computer with a dark look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, looking over his shoulder at the screen.

"The plates are stolen," he muttered. "They belong to a '87 Buick Oldsmobile that is registered in Seattle to a Doris Miles who, by the way, is 93-years-old."

"Shit!"

"Yeah, I called Seattle PD, and they said that the plates were taken right off the car in the driveway."

"Well, fuck," I said as I made my way around to my own desk and plopped down in my chair. Then a thought hit me. A Rolls Royce wasn't exactly your average run of the mill car. There couldn't be that many in the state of Washington. Of course, the car could have been stolen as well from another state.

"Do a search for stolen Rolls Royces," I told Emmett. "Start statewide, and move national if you need to. Chances are good the car is also stolen."

"You got it," he told me.

Just as Emmett started doing that, my desk phone rang, and I grabbed it.

"Swan," I answered.

"Hey, it's Embry. I've got the fingerprint results from your assault case," he said, and I told him I'd be downstairs in a minute to see the results.

I told Emmett I'd be right back, and I ran down the two flights of stairs to the lab in the basement of the building. I talked with Embry for several minutes, got the name of our suspect, and dashed back upstairs. Emmett was still on the computer, and while finding out who driving the car was important, arresting Tyler Monroe was more important.

"Let that run while we go make our collar," I told him once I was back upstairs.

What should have been an easy arrest turned out to be a complete pain in the ass. Our guy wasn't at his home, but a neighbor had spotted him heading west on Miriam Road. This meant the guy was headed out to the industrial park where he tended to score his drugs.

We spotted him a few minutes after parking near an old warehouse, and then the chase was on. I really, really hated it when suspects ran because I hated running. I was fairly fit, managing to go to the gym a few times a week, but I still loathed having to run after some douchebag.

I was just grateful that Monroe didn't have a gun or a weapon on him although he tried throwing rocks and other debris at us as we ran after him. We managed to corner the bastard, and that was when the idiot tried to climb over a wire fence without much luck.

Emmett grabbed him by the back of his shirt and tossed him to the ground, rolling him over and cuffing him.

"Stupid moron," Emmett muttered as he hauled the guy up and tossed him the backseat of the car.

By the time we'd booked the guy and headed off to our separate locker rooms to shower off the sweat and dirt of running through the industrial park, it was lunch time; however Emmett's computer search on the Rolls Royce had brought forth several results, so eating lunch was put on the back burner.

"What have we got?" I asked him, pulling my chair around to his desk.

"No stolen Rolls in the state of Washington, but there's a wealthy CEO in Portland who is missing one plus a guy in New York City as well as a guy in Chicago."

"I say we take a trip to Portland and talk to the guy down there about his car," I said, and Emmett's face lit up.

"What about Banner?" he asked, jerking a thumb toward the boss's office.

I'd forgotten to mention to Emmett that we were golden when it came to searching for Voltaire.

"Yeah, totally forgot to tell you earlier. He's cool with us running with the Voltaire case, but keep it quiet. Moran and Leaf don't know," I told him quietly, and he nodded his head.

I popped into Banner's office to give him a head's up, and then I met Emmett at the car.

"Can we grab lunch before we hit the road?" Emmett asked, and I held back a sigh. The man was always eating. It was a wonder he didn't way five hundred pounds.

"Oh, c'mon, Swan. I'm starving, and you've gotta be getting hungry as well. Let's grab something at Lucy's and then hit the road."

I decided if we were going to stop for food, I might as well see if Edward could join us.

I sent Edward a text letting him know that Emmett and I were stopping at Lucy's for a quick bite to eat, and he texted back, saying he'd meet us there.

As the three of us ate lunch, I told Edward that Emmett and I were headed to Portland for the afternoon to interview a guy about a stolen car. I purposely didn't mention that it had anything to do with Voltaire. Edward had enough to deal with at the moment with putting his shop back together and replacing inventory that had been stolen or destroyed.

"Well, be safe and call me when you get back," he said once we were done and walking out to our cars.

"Will do," I promised, unable to keep the smile off my face when Edward placed a quick kiss on my cheek.

Five minutes later, Emmett and I were on the 101 toward Portland, and Emmett and I kept a running stream of conversation the whole way.

A little after four-thirty, we pulled up to a gate protecting a large mansion behind it, and I pressed the button, letting the person inside know we were the police and there about the stolen car.

After we were buzzed in, I pulled up in front of the large house, shaking my head at the obvious display of wealth.

"Someone's overcompensating for something," I said quietly, and Emmett let out a chuckle.

"I hope he's not a complete asshole," he whispered as we made our way up the front walkway, and I let out a snort.

"I'm sure he is," I replied although Edward was rich and wasn't an asshole. At least I was fairly confident that he was well off. It wasn't something that we'd talked about.

An older woman wearing a maid's outfit opened the door and led us into a stuffy looking living room that was full of expensive white furniture. I was almost afraid to sit down for fear of dirtying the sofa. Emmett, on the other hand, had no qualms about plopping his large frame down, so I sat down next to him on the edge of the couch.

We were offered coffee and tea as well as scones, but we both declined. Almost ten minutes after we'd been invited into the house, the housekeeper announced that Mr. Denali would be right with us.

A couple of minutes later, a tall guy with dark hair walked into the room with an air of superiority, and I disliked him immediately.

"Thank you, Carmen," he told the housekeeper before introducing himself as Eleazar Denali.

* * *

 **a/n: Once again, I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter up. Let me know what you thought!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Why yes, you are getting this early. Why? Because this cold Illinoisan is heading to Florida for a week to bask in the warmth and the sun. I can't freaking wait! I need some beach in my life!**

 **As always, a huge thanks to everyone reading/reviewing. I suck at replying to reviews, but I do read each of them! Also, we're at the halfway point. This little story is only 16 chapters long, but fear not. I have another story (two, actually) in the works.**

 **Huge thanks to Heather, my awesome beta, for her comma and research skills.**

* * *

… **..E…..**

"Do I hear three-fifty? Three-fifty? Now three-fifty. Will you give me four?" the auctioneer chanted, and I watched as the bids for the Tiffany & Co. Black Marble Clock kept increasing. The damn thing was worth maybe $300, at most, and I was surprised when one of my former competitor's, Bree Tanner, from Chicago paid a steep five hundred for it.

I had looked through the list of auctions going on in Seattle today and decided to close the store and make the two and half hour drive. I'd planned on going to an auction with Jasper, but he'd been busy doing something with my sister, something I was grateful for. I just hoped this trip was worth my time.

"Edward Cullen," a voice said from beside me, and I looked up from the catalogue in my hand and gave Bree a small smile.

"Bree," I responded.

"I didn't think you were in the business anymore. You know, after everything that happened and all," she said with a nasty smile.

She'd been thrilled when my business had gone under because most of my clientele had gone to her.

"Well, you'd be wrong," I told her before turning my back and dismissing her.

I had no doubt in my mind that she was seconds away from texting everyone she knew to tell them I was back in the business. It would be interesting to see what happened although I honestly didn't care.

"Hmmmm…." she murmured before telling me she hoped to see me around in the future. It was a lie, and we both knew it.

I watched as she walked off to pay for the overpriced clock that she'd bought, and then the auctioneer began the bid for one of the items that I wanted. My dad was a huge James Bond fan, and I'd been thrilled to see that the Seattle Auction House had a few James Bond posters coming up for auction.

"Starting with five thousand," the auctioneer began, and the battle was on between several people and me.

Close to seven thousand dollars later, I was the proud owner of an original _Dr. No_ vintage film poster.

By the end of the day, I'd spent a small fortune on antiques for the shop as well as gifts for upcoming birthdays and holidays. I'd even found an awesome first edition of _The Shining_ by Stephen King for myself.

After arranging shipping for the furniture I'd bought for the store, I left the building with my other purchases and made my way out to the parking lot while checking my phone. I kept it off during auctions out of politeness, and I noticed I had a text from Bella.

She let me know that she'd gone to Portland to follow a lead and that she wouldn't be back until later that evening. I texted her back to let her know that I was about to leave Seattle and that if she wanted, we could meet up for dinner when she got back.

After locking my phone, I tossed it on the passenger seat and got behind the wheel. I cranked up the stereo as _Sweet Home Alabama_ came on the radio and began my drive home.

I was about halfway home when I noticed a familiar dark-colored sedan following me. I'd seen one like it after I'd pulled into the auction house parking lot and again when I had stopped for gas a few minutes ago. Either this was a huge coincidence, or this person was following me.

Deciding to test my theory, I took a left at the next residential road I came to. I slowed the car down to thirty miles an hour and kept a close eye on my rearview mirror. I didn't see the sedan behind me, and I let out a sigh of relief, but then, I saw pull onto the road behind me just as I was turning onto the main road again.

"Fuck!" I muttered as I tried to figure out what to do.

I decided to keep driving and to make my way to the nearest town and find the police station. Chances were good that whoever was following me wouldn't take their chances near the police, or at least, that's what I was hoping.

I got back on the 101 and resumed my drive toward home, keeping an eye out for police stations as well as on the car behind me.

About fifteen minutes later, I looked back in my rearview mirror and noticed the car was no longer behind me. I didn't relax because there was a nagging feeling in my head that the car would be back.

I had just passed the tiny town of Blyn and was still a good thirty minutes from Port Angeles when a sudden jarring had me gripping the steering wheel as I tried to keep my Volvo on the road to no avail.

The car rammed into mine once more, pushing my car off the road and down a slight embankment into the woods. I slammed on the brakes, trying to control the car, because it was headed for a tree.

My speed had dropped to about twenty-five miles per hour, but there was no way I wasn't going to hit the tree, so I braced myself for impact.

The car came to an abrupt stop as the fender collided with the tree and the airbag blew before I could even react. One second I was gripping the steering wheel for dear life, and the next, I was gripping the steering wheel with a deflated airbag coming out of it.

I sat there, stunned for a moment, as I tried to regain my composure, but I felt as if I couldn't breathe as panic began creeping in.

"Fuck!" I heard someone hiss from outside the car.

"What's the problem?" another male voice asked.

"I can't get the fucking trunk open," the other guy said, and I heard them walking closer to my side of the car.

I closed my eyes and hoped like hell they would think I was dead or at least passed out. I was in no shape to try and take them.

"God-fucking-dammit!" one of them yelled as I heard what sounded like sirens approaching, and I struggled to breathe a sigh of relief as I heard their footsteps retreating.

As my breath and my heartbeat slowly returned to normal, I noticed a stinging sensation on my face and arms. Looking down, I saw what looked like a rug burn on both of my forearms as well as a gash on my right wrist.

"Sir? Are you okay?" a female voice asked, and I looked out the window to see a female police officer. I managed to hit the window button and roll down my window before answering her.

"I think so," I called out as before she informed me that an ambulance was on its way.

Less than fifteen minutes later, I was loaded into the back of the ambulance and was being driven to the hospital despite my insistence that I was fine.

I spent the next forty minutes being examined and x-rayed, and I was becoming more than a little irritated. All I wanted to do was call Bella and go home, and then I heard my sister's voice echoing through the hallway. I'd forgotten that I had her listed on my In Case of Emergency card that I kept in my wallet.

"Oh, God," I mumbled, and the nurse who was next to me shot me an amused look.

"Your girlfriend?" she asked.

"My sister," I replied just as Alice burst into the room. There were tears falling from her eyes, and her normally styled hair was a mess.

"Edward!" she cried before throwing herself at me, and I winced as she hugged me tightly.

I had a lovely bruise on my chest from my seat belt, and my forearms were still sore from the airbag explosion, not to mention the cut on my wrist had required four stitches.

"I'm fine, Alice. Let go please."

She finally relented, and I breathed a sigh of relief. She might be tiny, but she had one hell of a death grip.

"What happened?" she demanded to know after getting a list of my injuries from the nurse.

"I was run off the road," I told her, and fury flashed across her face. Despite the fact that I was the older sibling, Alice had always been fiercely protective of me as well as of the rest of the family.

"Did they catch the bastard?"

I shook my head. The sedan that had rammed into me was gone by the time the police had shown up, and I'd only been able to give them a vague description of the car that I had seen. They'd taken my statement before running off to do whatever it was they did when investigating traffic accidents.

As I listened to Alice going on and on about irresponsible drivers, her phone beeped, and I realized that I didn't have my phone.

"Where's my phone?" I asked, looking around the room frantically. "I need to call Bella!"

"It wasn't on you when they brought you in," the nurse said before telling me she'd try and find out where it was.

As soon as she was gone, I was off the exam table and began to get dressed despite Alice's protests.

"Edward! Would you stop? Just … sit down for a minute. Please," she begged, and I let out a huff as I sat down in a hard plastic chair that was in the room.

"Do you know Bella's number?" she asked, and I nodded, practically ripping her phone out of her hand as she held it out.

I stood up and began pacing as Bella's phone rang. Eventually, her voicemail picked up, and I left a rambling message, letting her know that I had been in a car accident, but that I was okay.

After hanging up, I gave Alice's phone back and waited for the nurse to return so that I could get discharged and then find find out where my phone was.

* * *

I'd only been home for fifteen minutes when I heard someone knocking on my door, and I groaned at the thought of having to get up off the couch.

"I've got it," Alice told me, and I sighed, glad that I didn't have to move.

Moments later, Bella and Emmett walked across the threshold, and Bella rushed to my side.

"Oh, my God, Edward!" she exclaimed as she looked me over before placing a gentle kiss on my head.

"I'm okay," I told her. "A bit sore, but it beats the alternative."

Bella looked so worried, and it upset me to see her looking so sad.

Offering both Bella and Emmett a seat, I explained what had happened, and they were both shocked.

"But why would they run you off the road?" Alice asked.

"It has to do with that stupid wavy hair coin, doesn't it?" Bella growled, and I let out a snicker at her words.

"What wavy hair coin?" Alice asked, looking between Bella and me.

Bella shot me a sharp look, and I shook my head the tiniest bit, indicating that I hadn't said much of anything to Alice about it. I knew Alice would probably freak out, so I'd kept it from her.

Bella began to explain to Alice that there had been some guy looking for a rare coin who thought I might have it and that this guy's employer was willing to do whatever it took to get his hands on it.

"Does this have to do with the break in that happened recently?" she asked me, and I told her that it might.

"God, Edward! You moved here to get away from the drama and bullshit, and now you're up to your neck in it."

"Tell me about it," I muttered bitterly.

At least in Chicago, I hadn't been in any danger, other than having my heart broken when Tanya had turned out to be a liar and a cheater.

I decided to change the subject, so I asked Bella and Emmett how their day had gone.

"It was okay. We followed a lead we got on that Rolls Royce," she began, and it was my turn to be confused.

"What Rolls Royce?" I asked.

"The one that Rose spotted outside of your shop."

I nodded my head because I vaguely remembered Rose mentioning it to me, but I hadn't thought much of it.

"Anyway, it turns out, some guy named Denali—you know, like the mountain range in Alaska—had his car stolen," Emmett told us, and my mouth dropped open as Alice and I shared a look.

"What?" Emmett asked.

"My ex-girlfriend's last name is Denali. I think her dad lives in Portland, but I'm not certain."

"The one who hurt you?" Bella asked in a low voice, and I looked over at her.

"Yeah, Tanya Denali. I really hoped not to have to get into this because it was an unpleasant experience, but she ruined my career in Chicago. She was sleeping with one of my competitors and would steal small inventory items and give them to him."

"That's not all she did," Alice spat out. She truly hated Tanya, and I had a feeling that Alice would kick her ass if ever given the chance.

"She got her fuck buddy to spread the word throughout the antiquing community that Edward was selling forgeries. There was a huge investigation by the police, and even though he was found innocent, his reputation was tarnished due to that skank's lies."

"Could she be behind this?" Bella asked me.

"I honestly don't know," I told her. "A few years ago, I would've said no, but now … well, after what she did in Chicago, I wouldn't put anything past her. The question is, why though? Why would she do this to me? And why now? She got what she wanted. I'm no longer in her life. It just doesn't make any sense."

"What about her dad?" Emmett asked. "Could he be involved in some way?"

"Maybe, again, I don't know why he would be. I never met the man, so I don't know what he would have against me."

"Well, it's definitely something for us to look into," Bella told me as I let out a yawn. I was exhausted from the day I'd had, and as much as I wanted to spend time with everyone, I really wanted to just sleep.

"We'll see you later, okay?" Bella said softly before leaning down to place a kiss on my lips.

….

"Edward Cullen! Man, what is up?" Laurent Dreads asked over the phone, and I grinned. He was one of the few people in Chicago who had believed me, and we'd kept in touch off and on for the past year.

"Not much, you?"

"Aw, same ole', same ole, brother. Working to pay the bills. How are things in Port Angle or wherever you are?"

"Port Angeles, and they've been better. Listen, I need to ask you a serious question," I told him, continuing after he told me to go ahead. "Has anyone been sniffing around there for a Flowing Hair dollar?"

There was dead silence on the other end of the phone for a moment before Laurent spoke again.

"Actually, yeah. Tanya asked me about one the other day. Apparently, her husband, some Italian guy, has quite the coin collection from around the world, and he's willing to pay top dollar."

For a split second, all I could focus on was Tanya being married. For a second, I felt bad for the man that had married her, but then Laurent's other words rang through my head. I would bet anything that her new husband was Demitri Voltaire's boss.

"Edward, man? Are you there?"

"Huh? Yeah, sorry. Thanks for the help," I said, and I was about to hang up when Laurent asked me why I wanted to know about the coin.

I flopped down on my couch, wincing at the pain in my chest from the nasty seatbelt bruise, and told him the whole story, everything from Demitri Voltaire, to the break in, to being run off the road.

"Holy shit, Cullen! What in the hell have you gotten yourself into?"

"I don't fucking know," I muttered. "I moved over twenty-two hundred miles to get away from everything and start over, but all I've done is find more drama. Well, a girl and more drama."

"You got a girl?" Laurent asked.

"Yeah," I said with a goofy grin spreading across my face. "She's amazing. Actually, she's a cop, and she's working on this case."

"Well, be careful, dude. Tanya's new husband seems to have a long reach and a ton of money."

"I didn't realize she'd gotten married," I told him. "My folks never said anything."

"It just happened not too long ago. He's some old dude."

I asked him if he knew who she'd married, but he couldn't recall the guy's name.

We chatted for a little while longer before hanging up, and I decided to make my way downstairs to open the store for a few hours.

It had only been two days since the accident, and I'd kept the store closed yesterday because I'd woken up sore as could be.

Forty-five minutes after I'd opened, the bane of my existence walked through the door, and I cringed as she made her way over to me.

"I don't know how you expect to stay in business if you're always closed," Mrs. Cope said in a snotty voice.

"I would think you'd be pleased if that happened," I retorted, unable to find it in myself to be nice to her today.

"There's no need to be rude," she said with a huff, and I barely contained my eye roll. I was in rare form today, and it wasn't going to take much to make me snap. I was generally a very polite man, my mother had raised me that way, but I wasn't feeling very nice or polite at the moment.

"Is there something you needed?" I finally asked as she wandered about which meant I had to follow her.

She shrugged as she looked at some vases on a shelf.

"I'm just looking. Is that a crime now?" she answered, and I gritted my teeth.

"Not at all," I replied.

Twenty-five minutes later, Mrs. Cope left after complaining that I didn't have in any new stuff.

I seriously didn't understand why she was so fascinated with my shop, and now that I thought about it, I should have asked her how she planned on staying in business if she was always at my store.

* * *

 **a/n: As always, let me know what you thought!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Howdy, folks! Sadly, I'm back from the warmth and sun of Florida, and I miss it. I'm ready to be back on that beach. *sigh* Anyway, a huge thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing, and an even bigger thanks to my beta for her massive help on this chapter. I suppose I should tell you this chapter has a lemon, so on you go.**

* * *

 **Bella**

"When was your car stolen, Mr. Denali?" Emmett asked.

Mr. Denali, wearing a suit that probably cost more than my monthly salary, sat down in a chair across from us and steepled his fingers under his chin as he stared at us.

"Sometime last week," he said in a dismissive tone. "I filed a police report once I realized it was stolen. I assume you've found it."

"Possibly," Emmett replied. "It was seen outside of a store that had been burglarized."

"Well, you can't possibly think I had anything to do with that, can you?" Mr. Denali asked with an incredulous tone.

"Of course not," I told him with a fake smile. Although the truth was, I thought he was very much involved. My gut was telling me so, and I never bet against my gut.

"Do you have any idea who may have taken your car?" I asked him, and he told me no.

"You don't have security cameras?" Emmett then asked, and Denali told us that the cameras had been compromised.

I was a bit suspicious about the whole thing. If you're going to break into someone's garage, why not steal the Ferrari that Emmett had informed me was worth well over a million dollars. And for that matter, why not break into the house that was connected to the garage and steal more things of value.

"Was anything else taken besides your car?" I asked Mr. Denali.

"Nothing. Just the car. If that's all, I have a conference call I need to make," he said, standing up and basically dismissing us.

We thanked him for his time, and the second we were out the door, I told Emmett the guy was lying.

"Yeah, I think so too, but how do we prove it?"

That was the question. The local police had been nice enough to let us investigate the guy even though we were out of our jurisdiction, but I wasn't so sure they'd allow us to tail him, and we didn't have probable cause to tap his phone or search his house or computer. For now, we were out of luck. Although, I did have a trick up my sleeve, I just hoped it wouldn't cost me much more than a fancy coffee.

"I don't know, but I'm going to have Archie do his computer guru magic and see what he can find out about Mr. Denali. Maybe his search will tell us something."

Once we were back in the car, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and smiled when I saw I had a text from Edward. He was in Seattle at some auction, but he wanted to know if we could get together for dinner, and I was totally onboard with that.

I sent him a text back, but by the time we had arrived back in Port Angeles, I hadn't heard from him. I wasn't too alarmed because we both tended to get busy with work and lose track of time.

"I'm gonna go see Archie real quick," I let Emmett know once we were back at the station, and he nodded his head to let me know he'd heard me as he opened up a document on his computer. The man was a methodical note taker and kept backup notes in his computer. That was probably a smart idea and something I should probably start doing since my notes always ended up scattered across my desk or tucked away in a drawer somewhere.

After tossing my jacket on the back of my chair, I made my way down the stairwell to the basement that housed the lab and the computer division.

"Hey, Archie. You got a minute?" I asked him as I made my way over to his desk which was just as messy as mine. Although, Archie's desk was covered in bobble heads and toys from _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek,_ not to mention _Doctor Who._ Edward would probably get along great with him.

"What's up, Swan?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

"I was wondering if you could run a deep background on a suspect for me?"

"It's gonna cost you," he said with a grin. "And I want more than a venti caramel macchiato."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Fine. What do you want? And don't say a date."

He let out a snort. "Unless you can hook me up with a hot single guy, a date's not what I'm after."

"Okay, then what?"

"I need more of those Funko Pop toys," he said, pointing at the large headed toys on his desk.

"Deal," I told him.

"Sweet! So, who am I looking for?"

"Eleazar Denali. He lives in Portland."

"I'll let you know what I find," Archie told me, and I thanked him before making my way back up the stairs and to the bullpen.

"What's it costing you?" Captain Banner asked before I could take a seat, and I saw him standing next to Emmett's desk, and I could only assume Emmett had filled him in.

"Some toy called a Funko Pop," I replied as I sat down.

"Those things are pretty cool," Banner said, and I just stared at him.

"My son collects them," he replied, and I nodded my head as if to say I got it. I'd totally forgotten Banner had a kid.

Emmett and I spent the next thirty minutes doing paperwork and following some minor leads when I realized it was almost seven, and I hadn't heard from Edward. Surely, he was back from Seattle by now. I called his cell phone, but there was no answer.

Frowning, I hung up and tried calling his store, thinking that perhaps he had picked up some inventory and was cataloguing it.

"What's wrong?" Emmett asked.

"Nothing," I told him, setting my phone aside and getting back to work.

We worked in silence, well, as silent as a police station could be, until Emmett's stomach let out a rumbling and mine followed suit.

"I'm starving!" he declared, and I let out a small snicker. He was always hungry.

"Grab something from the vending machine," I suggested.

"I don't have any cash," he pouted before informing me that he was going to run to the diner real quick and grab a burger to go. I told him to pick me one up as well with extra mayo and pickles, and then he left.

While we sat around eating our burgers, I heard my phone ringing, but I had a greasy fingers, not to mention that my phone was buried underneath some files on desk, so I let it go to voicemail.

Once we were done eating, I wiped my hands on my napkin and dug around for my phone. Eventually, I found it and saw that I had a voicemail.

I hit play and sat up straight when I heard Edward's voice telling me that he'd been in an accident, but that he was okay.

I jumped up from my chair, grabbing my coat, as I listened to the message again.

"What's wrong?" Emmett asked as I frantically dug around my desk for my keys.

"Edward was in a car accident," I told him, cursing when I couldn't find the keys to my car.

"Is he hurt?"

"He left me a message, saying that he was fine, but I need to see him," I told him as I finally found my keys.

"Let me drive," Emmett insisted, holding out his hands for the keys, and I didn't even try to argue, I just tossed him the keys as I told him that Edward had said he was on his way home.

Not much later, I was knocking on Edward's apartment door, and it was opened by his sister who welcomed us in.

Edward was sitting on the couch, and I rushed over to him, sitting down next to him after giving him a gentle hug. I took a good look at him and noticed the red, rash-like burns on his arms and winced. It looked like it would sting a lot.

The four of us sat around, discussing the situation, and by the time Emmett and I left, I was convinced that Eleazar Denali was definitely involved, especially since his daughter was Edward's ex.

I spent the rest of the night doing some research of my own on this ex-girlfriend of Edward's. I wasn't jealous that he'd dated someone before me; I'd dated before Edward, so that wouldn't make any sense; however, I did feel a slight bit inadequate when I saw her picture on her Facebook page. Tanya Denali was stunning. She was tall, statuesque, and beautiful, like, stunningly beautiful. Now, I was pretty enough, but I sure as hell didn't look like I should be gracing the pages of _Playboy_ magazine.

Her Facebook page wasn't set to private, so I was able to do quite a bit of snooping, and I noticed that while she didn't mention her marriage, she did mention that she was living part-time in Italy and part-time in Chicago. Her job was listed as with the Volterra Corporation. Bingo! That was the major connection that I needed.

She had been on my suspect list the second Edward had told me her dad was Eleazar, but now, she was rising quickly to the top. We needed to have a talk with her, and I had a feeling that I might be taking a trip to Chicago soon, unless of course, she was in Italy. If she was in Italy, then I was going to have a problem getting ahold of her.

Two hours later, I was done scouring the Internet for information on Tanya, so I turned off my laptop and got ready for bed.

I woke up early the next morning and sent Edward a text, asking him how he was feeling, before getting ready for the day.

Once I was dressed, I made my way out the door to pick up some blueberry muffins from Lucy's along with two large cups of coffee and a cup of tea for Edward, leaving early enough to give myself time to stop at his place before going into work.

Balancing his tea and muffin, I climbed the stairs leading up to his apartment and knocked on his door.

I heard shuffling and a muffled "ow" before the door was opened, and I was greeted with a rumpled, but adorable, Edward.

"Bella," he said with a smile before leaning in to place a quick kiss on my lips. I returned the kiss before handing him the tea and muffin for which I got another kiss and a thank you before we walked over to the couch to take a seat.

Looking at him now, I could really see the bruises forming on his beautiful face and his arms.

"You don't look so hot," I told him, and he barked out a laugh as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh, I know. The bruises are really starting to shine, aren't they?"

I nodded before asking him if he was going to work today.

"No, I'm going to give myself another day to recover before opening the shop. Not to mention, I'm sure my parents will be calling any minute now, and my mother will want to fawn and smother me from afar."

"Well, I know that if Sue saw you right now, she'd do the same."

Edward wrinkled his nose.

"I'd rather not be fawned over," he told me.

"Well, I'll leave you to your soap operas while I get to work. I need to see if Archie has any new info for me," I told him, leaning over to place a kiss to his lips.

It was meant to be a quick goodbye kiss, but it quickly turned into a heated kiss filled with passion and moans.

By the time we separated, I was a mess who could barely remember her name, much less what I was supposed to be doing.

"I'll see you tonight?" Edward asked as he walked me toward his door, and I nodded my head, still brain addled.

* * *

"Talk to me, Sanders," I said over my phone.

"You need to see what I've found," he told me, and I held back a sigh. It had been a long ass day, dealing with a string of car thefts that had left Emmett and me with no leads and a major headache.

My head was throbbing, I'd had way too much coffee, but I was eager to find out what Archie had found.

"Be right there," I told him, hanging up the phone and shoving away from my desk.

I made my way down the stairs to the computer lab and found Archie sitting at his desk with what looked like a million windows open on his computer monitors.

I propped my hip up on the side of his desk and stared him down, waiting for him to speak.

"Well, hello, sunshine," he said with a smile, and I scowled back at him.

"Al lright then," he muttered before angling the monitors a bit so I could see them better.

"Your friend, Eleazar Denali, has his fingers in a bunch of pies. The man has bank accounts in the Caymen Islands, Switzerland, and Italy. He's a shareholder in over fifty different corporations, including one Volterra Corporation."

"Anything illegal?" I asked as I tried to make heads and tails of what the screens were in front of me.

"I've found a few court records that were sealed from his teenage years as well as a few police reports that are mysteriously empty."

"What do you mean empty?"

"Just that. A police report was filed at some point, but now there's nothing in them. They are empty. The only thing indicating that he had a run in with the police is an empty case file. All the information has been deleted."

I set down the bobble head I'd been fiddling with and asked Archie if he could recover the information.

"Of course, I can. Have you forgotten to whom you are talking? I can recover almost anything," he told me with a smug look. "But, it's going to take time. I'll let you know once I have something."

I nodded my head before thanking him and making my way back upstairs.

I didn't even know what to make of this whole case. It was the largest case I'd ever worked on, and there was so much going on, not to mention the man that I was dating was the victim, and I was feeling completely lost and overwhelmed. I was also worried that if we did find out what was going on and made an arrest, that everything I had done would be called into question because I knew the victim. I wondered if I should recuse myself from the situation, and I decided I'd better talk to Banner about it.

He wasn't in his office when I got back upstairs, so I made a mental note to remember to talk to him later about it and then informed Emmett of all that I had learned.

"I knew that guy was sleazy," he said around a mouthful of gum. "Don't worry, B. We'll catch the scumbags."

"I hope so," I told him, but I wasn't feeling too confident about it. Eleazar Denali had money as did Aro Caius, and money could buy just about anything. It could buy people's silence and their death. Hell, it could buy someone a new life somewhere else under a new name. These guys could disappear on the turn of a dime, and we would have no way of finding them.

"Go home, Bella," Emmett said a few minutes later, and I looked over at him.

"What? Why would I do that? We have a ton of work to do."

"You're distracted, and if we get called out, you would be a liability. Go home, go see Edward, go do something. Get your head on straight and then come back. I'll cover for you," he told me, and I tried to argue with him but to no avail.

Sighing, I gathered up my stuff and left the station, heading for home.

I spent an hour, sitting around and staring at some crime show on TV but not really paying attention, and then I thought fuck it. I wanted to see Edward, so I gave him a call and asked what he was doing. He told me he was just sitting around, so I offered to grab us food and some movies to which he was agreeable.

Thirty minutes later, I showed up at Edward's with a bucket of fried chicken and some horror flicks. I was in the mood for violence and gore, and I hoped that he wouldn't mind.

"What's wrong?" he asked me a little while later as we ate at his dining room table.

"Nothing," I said after swallowing a bite of food.

"Please don't lie to me," he said softly, and I let out a heavy sigh.

I went on to tell him how I was feeling about the whole case and that I was worried we wouldn't catch the person or persons who had hurt him and wrecked his store. Everything just came spilling out, and I couldn't have contained it if I tried.

"Breathe, Bella," he said as he came over to my side and rubbed a gentle hand against my back.

I nodded, trying to do what he had asked, and I finally began to calm down.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "I don't normally freak out like that."

He shook his head as he told me there was no need to apologize. Feeling as though I had ruined our evening together, I offered to leave, but Edward was adamant that I stick around, and honestly, I wanted to be near him.

We cleaned up dinner together, before making our way into the living room where we cuddled on the couch to watch some of the movies I'd brought over.

At some point, all I could focus on was Edward's fingers stroking the skin on my arm, and I found that I needed to feel more of him.

I moved my head from his shoulder where it had been resting and leaned up to give him a long, deep kiss.

Tongues slid against one another as hands roamed, and I let out a moan as Edward sat up and pulled me over and onto his lap to straddle him. I was more than willing to oblige, and I felt like I couldn't get close enough to him.

I slid my fingers through his hair as his hands held my hips tightly against him, and I couldn't help but move against the hard bulge that I felt below me.

"You are driving me crazy," he growled as he tore his lips away from mine only to trail them along my neck.

His teeth nipped at me, and I let out another moan, loving the way his teeth felt against me, and I began to rock in earnest against him, but it wasn't enough. We had on too many clothes, and I pulled away from him just long enough to pull my shirt over my head and toss it on the floor.

"Gorgeous," I heard Edward murmur as he traced the straps of the boring blue bra that I was wearing. Oh, I had some sexy and frilly bras, but they weren't really me. I was much more of a simple kind of girl, and I hoped Edward didn't mind.

Although, judging by the way he was staring at me, he didn't seem bothered that I wasn't decked out in some sexy lingerie.

"This needs to come off," he whispered against my lips, and I felt his fingers slowly unclasping my bra, and then he was pushing the straps down my arms.

With my bra gone, Edward leaned back and took a good look at me, and I felt a blush creeping up my cheeks. I was pretty well endowed, and I was in fairly good shape, so I wasn't too worried about what he saw, but it was still unnerving being naked for the first time.

Edward's hands ran up my arms before moving across my shoulders and down to my chest where he cupped my breasts, giving them a gentle squeeze before teasing my hard nipples with his thumbs.

His hands felt so good, but his lips felt even better when he brought them to one of my nipples and began to suck gently. But, I didn't want gently. I told him I wanted it hard and a bit rough, and he was only too happy to comply.

He sucked harder before biting my nipple just hard enough to have me moaning and rubbing against him.

I was beyond wet and ready for more, but I wanted to see and play with him as well.

"I want your clothes off," I told him as I began to tug at his shirt, but I paused when I saw the bruise going across his chest that he obtained the night before.

"I'm fine," he told me as he picked up both my hands and gently kissed them.

The man sure knew how to melt me into a puddle of goo.

Pretty soon, we found ourselves in his bedroom with a trail of clothes behind us, and I couldn't help but ogle him a bit. He wasn't overly built, but he had a nice lean build to him with some muscle, and his cock was gorgeous. It wasn't huge, but it was above average, nice and thick and more than adequate to get the job done.

Reaching down, I grasped him in my hand and gave him a gentle squeeze, watching as his eyes closed and his head tilted back.

I stroked him from the base to the tip, squeezing a bit as I went before dropping to my knees in front of him and kissing the tip.

His hands found their way into my hair as he mumbled that I didn't have to do this, but I told him this was what I wanted.

I wanted to drive him crazy with lust and began teasing him, licking him from base to tip and swirling my tongue around the head. I took him into my mouth as far as I could, fisting what wouldn't fit and pumping him as he began to move in and out of my mouth. I sucked harder and faster, loving the feel of him in my mouth.

"Oh, God!" he moaned, and that only made me work him harder. I wanted him to come, but Edward had other ideas.

Gently, he pulled me off of him and tugged me toward his bed, tossing his glasses on his nightstand.

"Lay down," he said, and I did as he asked.

He knelt between my spread thighs, running his hands up my legs until they get to my apex, and I watched as he dragged a finger through my folds.

Spreading my thighs wider, Edward leaned down and gave my clit a light kiss before running his tongue around it in circles. Edward kept up a steady rhythm until my body bowed and his name rang from my lips.

With a satisfied grin on his face, he kissed his way up my stomach and eventually placed a gentle kiss on my lips.

"Condom?" he asked, and I shook my head. I was on the pill, and I was clean. I knew Edward hadn't been with anyone since Tanya, so we were safe.

We both moaned as he slid home, and I ran my fingers through his hair, gripping his shoulders and back as he began to thrust.

Our movements started off slow, getting used to the feel of one another, but soon, we both wanted more, and I gripped him tighter as he began to pound into me.

My legs were around his waist, my nails digging into his skin, and he slipped one hand between us to rub my clit, sending me over the edge.

Almost as soon as I came, Edward's thrusts became faster and more erratic, and moments later, he came with a roar. It had to have been one of the sexiest sights I'd ever seen.

We lay there in silence, our breathing ragged, as fingers stroked over skin, and I didn't want to move.

"Stay?" Edward asked a few minute later.

I didn't have any clothes with me, but I didn't care.

"I'd love to," I told him, tilting my head up for a kiss which he granted.

* * *

 **a/n: Oh, man. Writing lemons always makes me nervous, but my beta was a huge help with her suggestions. As always, let me know what you thought.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Howdy, folks. Hope that those of you who celebrate Valentine's Day had a good one. I, personally, don't do anything for the holiday. The hubs says, he doesn't need a holiday to remind him how much he loves me. Yes, he occasionally says romantic things.**

 **Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing last chapter! Also, a huge thanks to my beta, Heather, for her awesome beta skills.**

* * *

… **E….**

It had been a week since I'd been run off the road, and the police hadn't been able to find out who had done it, but I had faith in Bella and Emmett. They were convinced that Tanya's father was somehow involved, and the more I thought about it, I could see that being the case. Tanya had proved to be a vindictive person, and it could be that the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

The ringing of my cell phone interrupted my thoughts, and I grabbed my phone, noticing that it was my mother.

She had freaked out when she'd found out about the accident, and I blamed Alice for that. I'd begged her not to say anything when she talked to our folks during their weekly phone call, but she'd ignored me and had told Mom and Dad everything that was going on. Needless to say, I'd had to deal with two upset parents.

"Hi, Mom," I answered.

"Hi, Sweetie, how are you?" she asked, and I went on to tell her that I was fine and getting back into things.

"That's good to hear," she said before asking if I was coming home for a visit anytime soon.

"I'm sure I can take a few days off," I told her, wondering if Bella would be able to get some time off to go with me.

"Well, you just let me know what dates work for you. I know that Alice is pretty busy this month, but we'd love to see you."

As soon as I was done talking to my mom, I called Bella, smiling when she answered.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked.

"My mom wants me to come home for a visit. I was hoping you'd want to come with me."

There was silence on her end, and I wondered if I'd overstepped my boundaries.

"Bella?"

"Are you sure you want me to come?" she asked.

"Of course, but only if you want to. I don't want you to feel pressured into going," I told her, and she quickly responded by telling me she wanted to go.

"Awesome! Let me know what days you can take off, and we'll figure it all out," I told her, and she told me she'd get back to me as soon as possible.

The rest of my day was spent taking online orders and following up on requests from clients regarding specific items they were looking for. One of those requests was for Bella's step-mother, Sue. She was looking for a particular gun for her husband for Christmas, and I was on the lookout for it. I'd shown her some of the ones I'd picked up a while back when I had been helping Bella get her dad something, but Sue was very specific about what she wanted.

The ringing of the bell above the door had me looking up from my computer, and I smiled when I saw Emmett walk in. I looked behind him to see if Bella was with him, and I was disappointed when she wasn't.

"Don't look so disappointed," Emmett said with a grin. "I'm taking my lunch break a bit early because I need your help."

"Of course."

He went on to tell me that his wife's birthday was next week, and he hadn't found the right present for her. From what I knew about Rosalie, she was a no frills kind of woman who worked around cars.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I've no clue, man. I don't want to give her jewelry because I did that last year. Plus, she doesn't like to wear it to work when she's getting covered in oil and grease."

We both stood there, pondering for a few minutes, when I remembered an item that I'd found when I'd come across it at an estate sale, buying it but not really knowing why except that it was different.

"I think I've got it," I said, telling him to wait for a moment while I went to go get it.

It was tucked away on a shelf in the back of the store where I kept miscellaneous items that didn't really have place in the shop.

Checking it over as I walked back to the front, I was glad to see it was still in good condition. It was an old tool box, about thirteen inches high and about sixteen inches wide, and made of oak with a hinged lift top and seven drawers.

I'd found it years ago in Chicago, and it had been sitting on the shelf ever since. It was worth maybe two hundred bucks, but I was willing to give it to Emmett for cheaper than that.

"What about this?" I asked as I set the box down on the counter. "It's an old tool box from the late nineteenth century."

"That is so freaking cool!" he exclaimed as he examined the box before asking me the cost.

"$75," I told him, and he stared at me.

"C'mon, man. I know it's gotta cost more than that."

"It's worth maybe two hundred bucks, at most, but I'm more than willing to take $75."

"No way, man. I'll give you one-fifty."

I shook my head.

"One hundred," I countered, standing firm on my decision.

"Do you gift wrap?" he asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"The best I can do is wrap it up in bubble wrap so it doesn't get damaged once I box it."

"Done," he said, shaking my hand and thanking me before telling me he'd tell Bella I said hi.

* * *

I looked over at Bella as the plane made its descent into O'Hare, and her hands were fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, so I reached over to place one of my hands over hers.

"Why are you so nervous?" I asked.

"What if they don't like me? Or hate my job?" she asked, and I shook my head as I told her that just wasn't possible. My parents would love her because I did, and the second I had that thought, my heart began to race. I loved Bella. I wanted to marry her and have a family with her. It was a slightly scary thought, but I realized I wanted it so badly.

"Relax, baby," I said, pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

Twenty minutes later, we were deboarding the plane and making our way through the throngs of people toward the baggage claim where my parents would be meeting us.

"Edward!" I heard my mom yell loudly as she waved her arms frantically, and I felt the tips of my ears burning. Nobody could embarrass you in public quite like a mom could.

"I take it that's your mom?" Bella asked with a snicker, and I sighed.

"Yep. Alice takes after her as I'm sure you'll come to see."

We made our way over to where my mom was standing, and before I could even say hello, she had thrown her arms around me in a huge hug that I couldn't help but return.

"Oh, my baby boy, I've missed you," she said, placing a kiss on my now red cheeks.

"I've missed you, too," I told her, and it was true. Apart from my time in Boston, I'd always lived near my parents and had seen them on a weekly basis, so moving to Washington had been a huge change for all of us.

"Mom, this is Bella," I said after pulling away and reaching out for Bella's hand to pull her toward me.

"Oh, it's wonderful to meet you," my mom squealed, not unlike Alice tended to do, as she wrapped a startled Bella into a hug. Bella returned my mom's hug as she told her it was wonderful to meet her as well.

"Where's Dad?" I asked Mom as the three of us made our way over to the baggage carousel that was moving.

"Emergency surgery," she told me, "but he should hopefully be home by nine."

I grabbed my suitcase as it came around, and then the three of us made our way out to Mom's car in the parking structure.

The forty-minute drive to my parents' house was spent with my mom asking Bella a ton of questions, and I was afraid that Bella would find it intrusive and even a tad bit rude, but Bella took it all in stride.

"What do your parents do?" Mom asked Bella as we neared Hyde Park.

"My dad's the chief of police in a small town called Forks about an hour away from Port Angeles. My mom lives in Jacksonville, Florida. I don't really know what she does. We're not close," she said quietly, and I reached over from the backseat to give her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Bella rarely ever talked about her mother, but when she did, it wasn't with affection.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't mean to intrude," my mother said, and Bella waved off her apology.

Minutes later, we were pulling in front of the English cottage type house that had been home and would always be home.

"Wow," Bella said softly as she gazed up at the house.

From the street, it didn't look all that big, but the house had five bedrooms and four bathrooms. Plenty of space for Alice, my parents, and me, not to mention the occasional relatives that would come for visits and overstay their welcome like my dad's sister, Jane.

"Let's get inside, so you two can clean up a bit, and then I'll start making dinner," Mom said.

"When you said you were from Chicago, I thought you meant the suburbs, not actually in the city," Bella said as we made our way up the walk, through the gate, and then into the house.

"Yeah, we're only five miles from Navy Pier and three miles from the Chicago History Museum, but with traffic, it can take a while to get there."

"Still, it must have been wonderful growing up here," Bella said, and I nodded my head. I couldn't imagine growing up anywhere else. It had been wonderful.

"C'mon," I told her. "My bedroom's upstairs."

I led Bella through the foyer and up the staircase before taking a left and showing her to my old bedroom. The walls were a stark white, although I had painted them black at one point during my rebellious teenage years, with hardwood floor. My room still had the same furniture as when I lived there, but my favorite part of the room was the window seat.

"I love it," Bella said, setting her small suitcase down on the floor near a chair in the corner, and I dropped my suitcase down next to hers.

"Thanks for coming with me," I said before placing a long kiss on her lips. I'd been dying to kiss her for hours, and I couldn't resist now that we were alone.

We broke apart when my mom hollered asking if steak and shrimp were okay for dinner, and I hollered back yes.

Bella excused herself to use the bathroom which was just off of the bedroom, and I flopped down on my bed while I waited for her.

As she walked out the bathroom, I couldn't help but soak her in. Sometimes, I had a hard time believing that she was mine, but she was. She was my everything, but I wasn't sure she was ready to hear that just yet.

I patted the spot next to me on the bed, but Bella shook her head.

"Oh, no. If I climb onto that bed with you, we're going to forget where we are and end up doing stuff that I'm not comfortable doing with your mom downstairs in the kitchen."

I let out a laugh because she was right. We hadn't slept together in about four days, and I missed the feel of her against me, but right now wasn't the time. Oh, I planned on having her in my bed, there was no doubt about that, but I didn't want her to feel awkward or comfortable about having sex in my parents' house. Although, having sex in my childhood bedroom had always been a fantasy of mine and yes, I was aware of how cliche that was.

Getting off the bed, I gave her another long, lingering kiss before taking her hand and leading her down the hallway toward the stairs.

Hand in hand, we made our way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Mom had upgraded it in the months that I'd been gone, and I liked the way it looked.

"Do you need any help, Mrs. Cullen?" Bella asked.

"Call me, Esme, dear," Mom insisted before putting us both to work, washing potatoes and cutting up some onions.

As we all worked together in the kitchen, Mom told us about the work she was currently doing. My mom was an interior designer who specialized in restoring the insides of old houses back to their former glory.

"It's this massive old Victorian in Hyde Park that was built in the mid-nineteenth century, and the owner wants all the walls, floors, and furnishings to be original. I may need your help hunting down some things," Mom said, looking over at me.

"No problem. Just send me a list of what you need, and I'll find it for you," I promised.

"Now, tell me what's going on with the case involving the break-in to your store," she demanded, and I looked over at Bella when she began to speak.

"We have a few leads," she began, going on to inform my mom that they had a couple of suspects in mind, but they didn't have any concrete evidence. I noticed that she didn't mention that one of those suspects was Eleazar Denali, so I went ahead and told my mom that part.

She set down the shish kabob stick that she'd been putting shrimp and veggies on and stared at me.

"Are you sure?" she asked Bella.

"He reported his Rolls Royce stolen, which was spotted near Edward's shop not long after it was broken into, and add in the fact that his daughter is married to the man who owns Volterra Corporations, it does seem to make sense."

Mom went off on a tangent that had my eyebrows raising as swear words flew out of her mouth.

"I can't believe that asshat! How dare he get involved in something that might hurt my boy! Oh, that fuckwad is going to get what's coming to him! Doesn't he know better than to mess with a Cullen? Well, he will now."

I reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder in attempt to call her down, but it did no good.

"Does his wife know?" Mom snarled. "I can't believe that Kate would be so ignorant as to what her husband is up to. Never mind. Of course, she is. Kate only married him for his money."

She took a deep breath, and that's when Bella intervened.

"I promise you, Esme, we are doing everything we can to find out what's going on. It all started because of some flowery coin that Tanya's husband wants. I need to talk to him or her and see what they have to say."

"I don't know anything about him, but I do know Tanya is in the city. There's a gala event tomorrow night to which Carlisle and I have been invited. The two of you are more than welcome to join us. Perhaps, you'll be able to talk to Tanya and get some information out of her," Mom suggested, and Bella looked at me.

"We could do that," I said as Bella mentioned that she hadn't brought any fancy clothes with her.

"Don't worry about that," Mom said. "We'll find you something."

"I don't want your Mom spending a bunch of money on me," Bella whispered a few minutes later after my mom went outside to start the grill, and I could tell she was uncomfortable with the thought of someone spending a lot of money on her.

"She won't. I promise," I told her. "I think Alice has a bunch of dresses in her closet that she left last time she was here. She makes her own dresses and was running out of room in her own closet and had asked Mom to donate them to the charity at Dad's hospital. I know Alice would love for you to wear one."

"I'm a few inches taller than your sister," Bella pointed out, and I told her not to worry about it. I didn't really want to go to some gala event, but it would give Bella the opportunity to talk to Tanya without it being an official interrogation.

….

"Wow!" I said as I looked at Bella standing before me.

My mom had found a simple black dress for Bella that showed off all her curves, and it was the sexiest sight I'd seen.

"I look okay?" she asked, and I nodded my head.

"More than okay. You're stunning," I told her, and she truly was.

Her long dark hair was curled around her face, and she was wearing more makeup than usual, but it was the overall package from which I couldn't look away.

"Thanks, so are you," she told me, and I shrugged. I'd gone to plenty of charity balls and events throughout my life, thanks to my parents, so I knew I looked halfway decent in a tux, but I liked that she thought I looked good.

"Ready?" I asked, and she nodded as her fingers fiddled with the necklace that she was wearing. I knew this wasn't her sort of thing, but I promised her I wouldn't leave her side.

Forty minutes later, we were walking through the grand ballroom at the Drake Hotel. It was decked out in a classy style, and the elite of Chicago society were all there.

Mom and Dad were already at a table, and Bella and I pushed through the crowd to get to them.

Dad had loved Bella upon meeting her, and I was pretty sure the feeling had been mutual on her end as well. They seemed to really get along, and Dad had spent the previous evening, asking her all kinds of police procedure questions. The man had a thing for crime shows, and Bella had been more than willing to answer any and all of his questions.

"There you are," Mom said, spotting us as we approached their table.

We were then introduced to some stuffy bigwigs that worked with Dad at the hospital.

The gala was a bit boring until I saw Tanya in the crowd, and she saw me. Immediately, she began making her way toward me, with a tall, distinguished man at her side who was at least twice her age. I wasn't sure if he was her husband or not, but chances were good that he was.

"Edward, darling, it's so good to see you," she purred upon reaching me, and I wondered how in the world I had fallen for her.

"Tanya, it's nice to see you as well," I told her even though there wasn't an ounce of truth in my words.

"I didn't know you were back in town."

"My girlfriend and I are just here for a visit," I explained, and her eyes narrowed at the mention of the word girlfriend although I couldn't figure out why.

"I'm Tanya Caius," she said holding out a hand to Bella.

"Bella Swan," Bella replied as she shook Tanya's hand, and I could tell she was hating every moment of it.

"This is my husband, Aro," Tanya said by way of introduction a few moments later. The man stared at me with cold eyes, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. He might have the look of a very wealthy man, but his eyes told the truth about the kind of man he really was.

Inviting herself to sit at our table, she pulled out a chair next to me, and her husband stood behind her chair, a menacing presence.

"So, what do you do out in Oregon?" Tanya asked me.

"It's Washington," I replied, "and I'm doing what I've always done, working in the antique business."

"Despite your efforts to destroy him," I heard Bella mutter underneath her breath, but I was fairly certain that Tanya heard her because Tanya shot Bella dirty look.

"Hmmm…," Tanya said before going on to talk about herself and what she was doing. I didn't pay much attention and tuned her out, but Bella acted completely interested and asked her all kinds of questions.

* * *

 **a/n: As always, let me know what you thought!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thank you all for your patience in my getting this chapter out and about. My poor beta has been sick with bronchitis and wasn't able to get me the chapter last week. Hopefully, you can forgive us.**

 **Anyway, a huge thanks to all of you for reading/reviewing. I love hearing your thoughts on the chapters.**

* * *

 **...B...**

 _Some people_ was all I could think of as I listened to this bitch run her mouth. I barely had to ask her anything about the Volterra Corporation or her husband because she was willing to tell me anything and everything especially once her husband left to take a phone call.

"So he collects coins?" I asked after she'd mentioned that he had a room dedicated to antiques and coins.

"Oh, yeah," she said with a slightly bored tone to her voice. "I don't understand the appeal of collecting them, but whatever."

"Yeah, I don't get it either," I agreed which was partially true. I didn't quite get the appeal of coins or snuff boxes but to each their own.

Thinking that she'd found an ally in me, she began to really talk about how much it drove her crazy. I looked over her shoulder at Edward, rolling my eyes slightly, and he smirked before pointing toward the hallway that housed the bathrooms. I gave him a nod and watched as he walked away before turning my attention back to the vapid blonde in front of me.

"The man has become obsessed with some stupid coin that he just has to have," she said, her voice filled with disgust.

"What kind of coin?" I asked her, and this time, my interest in what she had to say was genuine.

"Some kind of hair dollar. The stupid thing costs a shit ton of money that I'd much prefer be spent on me. I mean, really? Who spends millions of dollars on a fucking coin? Now, I can understand spending millions on clothes or a house, but a coin? It's ridiculous."

I thought she was ridiculous. I couldn't imagine spending millions of dollars on clothes, but then again, I didn't have a million dollars and probably never would.

"Maybe you could ask Edward to look around for the coin?" she suggested. "I'd ask himself, but I'm pretty sure he's still heartbroken over our break-up."

I stared at her with an incredulous look on my face. What about my man screamed that he was still torn up over her?

"Sure, I can do that," I told her although there was no need since her husband's crony had already done that.

"Are you sure your husband hasn't asked Edward already?"

She looked startled by my question.

"Why would he? He doesn't know who Edward is or what he does."

I debated on whether or not to bring up Demitri Voltaire and the fact that he'd been asking Edward about the coin, but I was distracted by Edward coming back from the bathroom.

He was halfway to me when a man stepped in front of him and blocked my view. From this far away, I couldn't see who it was, but something about his body language set off alarms in my head.

Excusing myself from the self-absorbed Tanya, I made my way toward Edward and noticed that the man in front of him had a firm grip on Edward's arm.

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" I asked in a quiet voice, and the man who was holding onto Edward let go.

"Certo che, no!" the man said in what I assumed was Italian.

"Excuse me, Edward. Your dad wants to speak with you," I lied, taking his hand and beginning to walk away from the man.

"Stronza ficcanaso!" he spat, and I had a feeling I'd just been insulted.

"Who was that?" I asked Edward, and he shook his head as he told me he'd never met the man before.

"He wanted to know what information I had about the Flowing Hair dollar," he explained to me as he rubbed a hand over his arm where the man had gripped it.

"I don't fucking get this," I hissed in a low voice. "Caius has a shit ton of money. Why not just buy this coin outright on eBay or some auction site?"

"Because the one he wants isn't listed on eBay. He wants the 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar, and it was sold at auction in 2013. There aren't any others just like that one."

"Well, if it's been sold, then how does he expect to get it?" I asked, and then shook my head at the stupidity of my question. The man had already proven that he was willing to do whatever it took to get his hands on the stupid thing.

"Last time I had a face to face with Volturi, he mentioned that the coin was up for sale by the man who paid ten million for it, but I can't confirm that through any of my sources," Edward told me.

"Shouldn't someone warn the original owner?" I suggested, and Edward nodded before saying that was a good idea.

"Okay," I told him. "I'll get Emmett on that as soon as we leave here."

By the time we got back to our table, Tanya was gone, so we spent the rest of the evening with Esme and Carlisle, eating and trying to enjoy ourselves.

We got back to the Cullen house a little after one in the morning, and I was exhausted.

I quickly changed out of the dress and put on a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top before heading into the bathroom to wipe off the makeup that I'd worn.

When I came out of the bathroom, I found Edward sprawled face down on his bed in only a pair of dark green boxer briefs, and I took a minute to just stare at him.

"Are you going to stand there staring, or are you coming to bed?" he asked, and I grinned at him as I made my way to the bed.

"I was just enjoying the view," I told him.

"You can enjoy more than the view," he said with a silly grin, and I rolled my eyes at him, but I really did want to enjoy more than the view.

Our clothes came off before we climbed under the covers, and we both let out quiet moans as Edward slid into me.

We made love in a sensual, quiet dance, and I had to bite my lip from calling out his name as I came.

Leaning down, Edward placed a kiss above my heart, which was still racing, before murmuring something that I couldn't hear.

He lay there for a while, his head resting against my chest and my fingers stroking through his hair.

After placing one more kiss to my chest, he slid out of me and rolled over, pulling me to his side. I curled up next to him, tossing a leg over his thigh, before Mother Nature called, and I had to extract myself from him.

When I was done, I crawled back into his bed and nestled right up against him once more.

* * *

All too soon, our trip to Chicago was coming to an end.

We'd spent the following days after the gala, doing all the touristy stuff there was to do, and I'd loved every minute of it. I'd loved pretending the drama and crimes plaguing us didn't exist, but I knew we had to get back to reality.

His mom drove us to the airport where she wrapped us both up in big hugs and made us promise to be safe.

"Please be careful," she told me after letting me go from her hug. "It would kill Edward if anything happened to you."

"I'll be careful," I told her, "I promise."

By seven that evening, Edward and I arrived back in Port Angeles, and I found that I wasn't ready to let him go just yet. I asked him if he wanted to stay at my place to which he eagerly agreed, but he wanted to stop by and check on the shop.

He parked behind the store, and after turning off the alarm, a quick walkthrough showed the store was in order.

I wandered around the book section while Edward ran upstairs to drop off his suitcase and grab a set of clothes for the next day.

"Ready?" I asked when he came back down, and a few minutes later, we were pulling into the driveway of my tiny house.

It wasn't the first time that Edward had spent the night at my place, but it always left me with a strange feeling. I wasn't sure if it was because I was used to living alone or if it was because I was far more serious about Edward than I had been my previous boyfriends.

The following morning, we ate breakfast together, kissed each other goodbye, and then went our separate ways for the day, agreeing to meet up for lunch if we were both available.

I'd only been at my desk for a few minutes, scarfing down a stale muffin and drinking some disgusting coffee when Archie called me.

"You need to see this," he said, and I jumped up from my desk, knocking my coffee over but not really caring. Tossing some old fast food napkins on my desk to mop on the spill, I ran down the stairs to his office.

"What did you find?" I asked him as I looked over his shoulder once we were at his desk.

"A money trail," he said, pointing at his screen where a bunch of bank account information was displayed, and I closed my eyes.

"Archie, we don't have a warrant for Denali's bank records, so I can't see this. It won't hold up in court," I told him.

"I wasn't actively looking for it. I just sort of stumbled across this info. That's all," he explained, but I shook my head.

"C'mon, Archie. I need something that will get me a warrant, but it has to be legal."

"Well, Denali flew to Italy a week before your boyfriend's antique shop was broken into."

"His daughter lives there part-time, so I'm not sure that will prove anything," I said, worrying my bottom lip with my teeth.

I felt like we were getting nowhere, so maybe we needed to start over from the beginning and look at what we knew.

"Ugh! Okay, let's focus on Demitri Voltaire for a moment. We know that he works for Aro Caius and that he approached Edward about some rare ten million dollar coin," I muttered, thinking out loud.

"He's also been arrested several times but never convicted," Archie chimed in, and I nodded my head.

"Okay, so we need to prove that Voltaire burglarized Edward's shop and that he was acting on Caius' orders."

Archie nodded his head in agreement.

"But, how the hell does Eleazar Denali fit into all this?" I asked.

"His son-in-law is Aro," Emmett said from behind us, "And chances are good he'd do anything for his daughter, but what I want to know is why Caius thinks Edward knows the whereabouts of a coin that isn't even up for sale and hasn't been reported stolen."

"Did you ever get ahold of the owner of the coin?" I asked, and Emmett shook his head.

"I left several messages for him, but he hasn't returned any of them which has me a bit concerned."

"Call the local law enforcement, and ask them to do a welfare check. Explain to them that Mr. Grover …"

"Watgrove," Emmett interjected.

"Fine, explain to them that Mr. Watgrove's life may be in danger."

"On it," he said with a nod before taking off.

"God, this is a clusterfuck," I muttered as I tugged at a lock of hair. I felt like we just weren't getting anywhere, and Emmett and I had other cases to worry about.

The captain had been good about letting us focus on Edward's case, but we had several other cases that were just as important, and I knew it was only a matter of time until Banner got on us for letting our other work slide.

"Tap into the CCTV's around town and in Seattle," I told Archie. " Look for Denali on those videos. We'll start there for now."

Archie nodded, and I made my way back upstairs to get some work done on a narcotics case that Emmett and I had caught last week.

We didn't have a vice unit, so drug cases fell to the detectives in our station, and we'd caught the last one.

Back at my desk, I dug through both the paper and electronic file we had on an Alec Jane. He was a small time drug dealer around Port Angeles, and he'd been busted alongside James Tracker handful of times.

His latest offense was selling meth to some high school kids which had resulted in the hospitalization of two of them. Alec had gone underground once word had spread that he'd sold them the drugs, and we were currently trying to find him.

It hadn't been going too well, and I have to admit, I had been more focused on Edward's case, so I needed to get my head on straight and not let other shit slide.

Unlike with Denali, we'd gotten a warrant for all of Alec's bank records as well as his for house, and as I scrolled through the information, I noticed that he'd made a transaction a few hours earlier in La Push.

I grabbed my cell phone and gave Jake a call to see if he'd spotted Alec around the reservation.

"Short, pale kid with dark hair and an attitude?" Jake asked me after I'd explained who I was looking for.

"That's him."

"I'm looking at him right now," Jake said. "He's on the beach with some of the local teens."

"Keep an eye on him, and if he starts to leave before I get there, arrest his ass," I told Jake.

Jake was a deputy with the La Push Police Department which was rather small.

"You got it," he told me, hanging up the phone, and I motioned to Emmett, who was on the phone, that I was leaving.

"Where you going?" he asked me, covering the mouthpiece on the phone.

"La Push. Jake's got eyes on Alec Jane."

"Go," Emmett said, and I grabbed my keys and bolted out of the station.

It took an hour and a half to get there, and just as I passed the sign welcoming me to La Push, my phone rang.

"I just got here," I told Jake. "I'm pulling up in front of the tribal jail now."

"Good, because this punk ass little brat is getting on my nerves," he growled into the phone, and I snorted out a laugh. Jake had zero tolerance for troublemakers which I found amusing because he used to be one. Oh, he hadn't done drugs or anything, but he sure had pushed the boundaries of the law.

But Jake also had zero tolerance for drug dealers. Hell, none of us had any tolerance for them, but drugs tended to run rampant on the reservation, especially meth, and Jake and his people were doing everything they could to keep it off tribal land, but they were fighting a losing battle.

Meth had become a major problem on several reservations throughout the state of Washington, and La Push was no exception. Not to mention that rape and aggravated assaults were rising on the reservation. Needless to say, the La Push Police Department kept busy.

I walked into the small jail and grinned when I saw Jake sitting behind a tiny desk, his large frame crammed into a chair. He looked like a giant sitting in a kindergarten chair.

"Asshat is back there," Jake said by way of greeting.

"I take it he's worn out his welcome?" I said with a grin, and Jake shot me a dirty look.

"Got it. I'll get him and then get out of your hair."

"Sounds good. Let's meet up this weekend. Dad's itching for a get together," he told me, and I eagerly agreed. Billy, Jake's dad, was a master at grilling fish which meant that my dad would most likely be up here early on Saturday morning to go fishing with Billy.

Walking to the back of the building, I grinned when I saw a disgruntled Alec pacing his small cell like a caged animal.

I approached the cell, informing him to turn his back to me as I unlocked the cell door with the key that Jake had given me. I wouldn't put it past Alec to try and do something stupid, like rushing me, and I was ready for anything.

Thankfully, he didn't put up a fight, but boy, he sure did run his mouth.

The whole ride back to Port Angeles had me fighting the urge to pull over and shut the kid up. He'd been advised of his rights, twice, and if he was smart, he would've shut his mouth. Then again, if he was smart, he wouldn't be selling drugs, so never mind. The kid was a moron who was giving me all kinds of information to use against him later.

"I gotta piss," he said when we were about twenty minutes away from the station.

"Too bad," I told him. I wasn't stupid enough to pull the car over and let him out.

"I gotta go real bad," he whined.

"Not my problem, and if you even think about pissing in the backseat, I'll tack on a charge of disorderly conduct," I told him, not that the charge would stick, but he didn't know that. "We'll be at the station in twenty minutes, so just hold it."

The rest of the ride to Port Angeles was spent listening to him whine about how his bladder was going to burst and how this was cruel and unusual punishment which had me rolling my eyes.

"You do realize that you've been arrested for selling meth, right? That's a Class B felony which means incarceration of up to ten years and fines upwards of twenty-five thousand dollars. I'd say, you have more things to worry about than whether or not I let you take a leak right now."

That shut him up, and the rest of the drive was spent in silence.

Once we arrived at the station, I took him to the interrogation room after he'd been allowed to use the bathroom and decided to let Emmett interrogate him.

"Got him?" Emmett asked after I sat back down at my desk and began filling out the paperwork that went along with the arrest.

"Yep, he's in interrogation room two. Feel free to scare the shit out of him," I told him, and a grin crossed Emmett's face.

It wasn't like we really needed a confession. Jake had busted Alec selling drugs, and the La Push police were to get a crack at Alec as well, but our charges came first.

After the long day I'd had, I was ready to call it quits by six-thirty, so I called Edward to see if he wanted to meet at the diner.

By six-forty-five, I was sliding into a booth and ordering iced tea for both Edward and myself, and I smiled when I saw him walk in.

He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss before sitting across the booth from me and picking up a menu.

After ordering our food, we talked about our day, and it felt like such a couple thing to do. While I knew we were a couple, it still seemed like so much more.

A little while later, Lucy arrived with our food, and we dug in. I was starving, and I scarfed down the unhealthy bacon cheeseburger and fries while Edward took his time eating the lasagna that he'd ordered.

We were almost done with dinner when I saw a dark colored sedan driving slowly past the window, and I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye that had me on edge. The car came to a stop as I was yelling for everyone to get down.

Seconds later, shots rang out in the air, and the only sounds to be heard were the breaking of glass, the screaming of people, and the rapid firing of a gun.

Crawling out from under the table, I took a quick look around and saw everyone hiding or crouching on the ground.

Edward was under our table as was Lucy, and I motioned for them to stay put.

Crouching, I made my way toward the front of the diner as quickly as I could while trying to stay covered.

Once at the door, I stood up and opened it before firing off a few shots. I took out the back window before the car began to take off, and I aimed for a tire, hoping to put the car out of commission, but I missed.

"Fuck!" I snarled as I watched it turn the corner at a high speed. I'd managed to catch a glimpse of the last two numbers on the plate, but that wasn't going to be much help. I'm sure there were thousands of dark blue or black sedans with the number six and two in their license plates.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket after holstering my gun, I called the station and told them there had been a shooting at the diner and to send backup as well as an ambulance. I'd seen some blood drops on the ground as I'd made way toward the door earlier.

Ending the call and sliding the phone back into my pocket, I went back inside the diner, asking if anyone was hurt.

A young man shouted out that one of the waitresses was hurt, and I stepped around the small crowd that was hovering around her and sighed with relief when I saw that she had been grazed on her upper arm and would only require some stitches. She'd definitely live despite her insistence that she was dying.

Moving away from her, I heard Lucy shouting my name frantically, and I rushed over toward where she was kneeling, and my heart about stopped.

Edward was on the floor, blood pouring from his shoulder as Lucy did her best to keep pressure on his wound.

I made my way next to Lucy, slipping a little bit on some spilled food on the floor before dropping to my knees next to her and Edward.

I wanted fall apart at seeing the man I loved lying on the floor with blood pooling around him, but I had to keep it together. For both of us.

Taking over for Lucy, I applied pressure to the wound all while telling Edward how sorry I was and how he was going to be okay.

"It's just a flesh wound, right?" he joked in a whisper, and I nodded my head although I feared it was worse than that. The brachial artery was located in the shoulder, and if the artery had been torn, he was going to bleed out quickly.

"I need you to talk to me," I told him, wanting him to stay awake and calm and hoping like hell that the ambulance would arrive soon. Although protocol stated that the police had to clear the scene first, I'd be damned if they weren't going to take Edward to the hospital first.

"I got the latest Blu-ray set of _Doctor Who_ ," he said in a quiet voice that shook a little bit. "We need to get you caught up."

I let out a small laugh.

"We can do that this weekend," I promised, hoping like hell it was a promise I could keep.

I kept him talking quietly about _Doctor Who_ until the sound of sirens rang through the air, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

Emmett was the first cop in the door, and I called him over after he'd cleared the scene to make sure that no more gunmen were around.

"Jesus, Bella! What the hell happened?"

"I'll explain later. We need to get Edward to the hospital now!"

He nodded before gesturing for the paramedic to come in and then he made his way over to the other cops that had arrived. He told them to take witness statements before coming over to me.

They put Edward on a stretcher and wheeled him out to the ambulance, and I followed suit, only to be stopped by Emmett.

"I need to go with him!" I said in a frantic tone, but Emmett's words stopped me.

"You need medical attention, Bella. You're bleeding."

I stared at him for a moment, not quite understanding his words, and then I looked down at myself.

I was covered in blood, but I had just assumed it was Edward's, and I said as much.

"I need a medic over here!" Emmett hollered, and moments later, I was being looked over.

I was then strapped into a gurney and put in the second ambulance, fighting them the whole time.

I was fine, and I needed to be with Edward.

"Ma'am," one of the paramedics said, but I interrupted him.

"Detective Swan!" I snapped.

"Detective, you need to be still so that we can stop the bleeding," he told me in a patient voice, and I let out a sigh. I was being a bitch, and I knew he was just trying to do his job.

The paramedics pushed up the left side of my shirt, and I winced when I saw a small hole there. All the adrenaline from earlier was wearing off, and the pain and realization of being shot was starting to kick in.

I was rushed into the ER less than ten minutes later, and it was all a blur after that.

I fought to stay conscious, but the world began to darken, and I found myself truly scared.

* * *

 **a/n: If anyone speaks Italian, I apologize if Google translate messed it up.**

 **The translations are as follows: "** Certo che, no!" - Of course not!

"Stronza ficcanaso!" - Nosy bitch!

 **As always, leave me a review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! It totally makes my day! I'm sad to say this story only has 4 chapters left, and then I'll be taking a break to finish up the next story that I'm writing (and there's a story in the works for the one after that).**

 **Huge thank you to my beta, Heather, for not getting angry with me and all of my comma errors of which there are many. I hate them.**

* * *

… **E...…**

Man, I was uncomfortable. The bed I was in wasn't made for comfort; that was for damn sure, but I couldn't figure out where I was for a few minutes.

Granted, I had yet to open my eyes, but they flew open when I heard my mom's voice.

"Oh, my sweet boy," my mom said, tears falling from her eyes, and I looked past her to see my dad, sister, and brother-in-law hovering.

"What's going on?" I asked, my voice raspy and my throat dry. "Where am I?"

"You don't remember?" my dad asked, and my thoughts raced as I tried to recall anything, and then it hit me. I had been shot when there was a drive-by at the diner.

"Bella!" I gasped. "She went after the gunmen!"

"Shhh," Mom soothed, running a hand over the top of my head. "Listen to me. Bella is going to be okay. She had to have major abdominal surgery due to the damage caused by the bullet."

I hadn't realized she had been shot, and I said as much.

"Apparently, she didn't realize it at the time either," Dad explained.

"Did they catch whoever did it?" I asked them, sitting up with Mom's help and taking a sip of water from the glass that she held out for me.

"No," Dad said. "They've got a few descriptions of the car that was involved, but that's all as far as I know."

I didn't mention to Mom and Dad that I had a feeling it was Denali or Caius behind it, but it only made sense. Drive-by shootings weren't exactly common-place in Port Angeles, or at least, not that I was aware of.

"Can I see her?" I asked, and Dad told me that he'd check with my doctor first and then Bella's.

After Dad left to go find my doctor, Mom pulled out her phone and moved toward the corner to talk quietly into it.

However, it was my sister that caught my attention. She was unusually quiet, her hands clasped together as she stared at the floor.

"Ali?"

She looked up at me, her eyes wide and scared, her face paler than usual.

"What have you gotten yourself into, Edward?" she asked in a low voice. "You could have died! Maybe you should have stayed in Chicago. At least, you never got shot at there. And Bella, how could she let this happen?"

"Don't you dare blame, Bella!" I growled, wincing as pain raced through my shoulder when I moved.

"None of this is her fault! Do you hear me, Alice? If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I brought all this drama with me when I moved."

She scowled, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at me, and I glared right back.

I was seething. How dare she fucking blame Bella for something that wasn't her fault! It wasn't Bella's fault that some asshole had sought me out, wanting something that I didn't have. I was beginning to think all of this stemmed from the events in Chicago. There were just too many connections leading back there.

"Why don't you go get some fresh air, Mary Alice?" Mom suggested, when in reality, it wasn't a suggestion at all, and we all know it because she had used Alice's full name.

Alice stomped out of the room with Jasper following her but not before he shot me an apologetic look.

"She's just upset, Edward," Mom said, sitting down on the side of the bed near my hip.

"That doesn't excuse her behavior," I snarled.

Mom reached over and cupped my chin, forcing me to look at her.

"You know how Alice is. When she's angry and upset, she lashes out, but she doesn't mean what she said. She's scared and worried just like the rest of us."

I finally nodded my head, knowing that she was right, but it still didn't take away from the anger that I felt at Alice's words. I truly hoped that she didn't blame Bella for what had happened because it was in no way her fault.

The door opened, and Mom and I looked over as Dad walked in with the doctor who checked my vitals before explaining what had happened.

I'd taken a medium sized caliber bullet to the shoulder which had resulted in some tissue damage, but that was all. He told me that I was lucky that the bullet hadn't hit an artery or shattered any bones, and I agreed with him. It definitely could have been worse. As it was, I was still looking at three to six months of recovery, and I groaned at the thought.

"Will I able to get back to work soon?" I asked the doctor, explaining that I owned a store, and he told me that as long as I was careful and didn't move my arm too much, I could work, but he would prefer if I took some time off to rest.

It was a good thing I came from money because I sure as hell wasn't going to be making any if I had to keep my store closed for too long.

The doctor gave me the okay to go visit Bella, and I balked at being pushed around in a wheelchair, but the nurse said it was the only way I could go see Bella, so I finally consented.

Dad pushed me down the hallway to Bella's room, and he knocked on the door.

Chief Swan opened the door and gave me a smile after telling me it was good to see me up and around.

"How is she?" I asked him in a quiet voice. Seeing my strong Bella lying so still in a bed with tubes and wires everywhere, frightened me.

"She's going to be okay," he told me, his voice a bit gruff as he looked at his daughter.

Dad excused himself, and Chief Swan rolled me closer to the bed so that I could reach out a hand and touch Bella.

As I sat there, Chief Swan explained to me that Bella had been shot in the abdomen and that her small bowel had been damaged. They had done surgery to repair the damage, and she was being kept in the hospital for at least another week to make sure there was no infection and that the wound was healing properly.

Once she was allowed to go home, it would be weeks before she was able to be mobile, and I sat there stunned by what I was hearing.

I'd seen her get up and go after the car that had shot up the diner. I'd seen her moving about, and she hadn't looked like she'd been in any pain, and I mentioned that to her father.

"Adrenaline rush, son," he told me. "She didn't feel or notice the pain because she was so focused on going after the shooter as well as worrying about you. Once you were being taken care of, that was when it kicked in."

"But she'll be okay?"

He nodded.

"Bells is tough, Edward. It's going to take time, and she's going to be out of commission for a few months, but at least she's alive."

I nodded, fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall. We were both a bit of a wreck, but I knew that we would eventually be okay. Like Chief Swan said, it was going to take time.

"Does Emmett have any leads?" I asked him after we'd been quiet for a few minutes as I sat there, lightly stroking the back of Bella's hand.

"He does," Chief Swan said, sitting down in a plastic chair on the other side of Bella's bed.

"I don't know all the details at the moment, but he gave me a call before he took off to follow whatever lead he had. He said he'd stop by later."

After a while, Bella's step-mother, Sue, showed up with some food for Bella's dad, and my stomach let out a rumble at the smell.

"Edward, how are you?" she asked, leaning over and giving me a gentle hug.

"I'm okay," I told her, but my shoulder was beginning to throb something fierce, and I felt oddly exhausted.

Just then, my dad knocked on the door and entered. He talked with them for a few minutes before looking at Bella's chart with their permission. He asked Chief Swan a few questions and nodded his head when he received an answer.

"I'm assuming that she'll be released in a week or so if she shows signs of improvement and any infections stay at bay?" he asked, and Chief Swan nodded.

"Excellent."

After a few minutes more, Dad excused us, wheeling me back to my room and helping me get back into bed.

I was starving, yet exhausted, and had a hard time keeping my eyes open as Mom tried to get me to eat. Thankfully, it was my left shoulder that had been damaged and not my dominant arm, so I was at least able to feed myself.

As I ate, Dad told me that I'd be in the hospital for a couple of more days, and then I would be released. Alice and Jasper had offered me a room at their house in Seattle, but I'd refused. I wanted to go home and sleep in my own bed.

My refusal, however, had garnered protest from both my mom and my sister, but I stood my ground.

I was capable of taking care of myself, even with one arm, but I'd consented to allowing Mom to help me out while they were in town, and then Alice would help as well after Mom left.

Done with eating, I took the medication that was given to me and found myself falling into a deep sleep void of dreams.

* * *

"I'm fine, Alice!" I growled as she fussed over me. I was tired of her constant hovering. Even Mom had given me my space when she had stayed with me, but Alice was relentless.

"Why are you being such an ass?" she snarled right back. "I'm trying to help you!"

"You're smothering me!" I shouted. "I just want to spend the day in peace and not have you nagging at me all the time."

A hurt look crossed her face as she stomped toward my apartment door, yanking it open and then slamming it shut as she left, but not before she called me a fucking asshole.

I didn't even care that I'd hurt her feelings. I knew I would later, but right now, all I wanted was to sit on my couch and read a book without her interrupting me.

I had just gotten into my book when there was a knock at my door, and I let out a huff as I slowly got up and made my way toward the door.

Peering through the peephole, I saw Emmett standing on the other side, so I opened the door to let him in.

I'd seen him once since the shooting, when he'd stopped in to see how I was doing, but he hadn't stayed long, and he hadn't talked about the investigation. It was killing me not knowing what was happening with the case.

"How you holding up, Ed?" he asked, and I told him I was okay. The pain in my shoulder was a constant that I was learning to deal with, and I wasn't looking forward to starting physical therapy once I was healed enough.

"What brings you by?" I asked him as I gestured for him to have a seat with my good hand. My left arm was in a sling that was slightly uncomfortable, but again, it was something I was learning to live with.

Emmett sat down in the recliner near the couch, and after taking a good long look at him, I realized how tired and rough he looked. I had a feeling he had been working nonstop to find out who had shot up Lucy's Diner.

* * *

 **a/n: Next chapter is from Emmett's POV, and it will post on Friday. I'm off to Heroes and Villains Fan Fest in Chicago next weekend, and I'm so excited. My crush, Stephen Amell from Arrow, is going to be there along with other folks from the show and The Flash, so here's hoping I get some autographs and pictures!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Thanks so much for reading/reviewing last chapter! To clear things up, I know some of you were worried that Bella wasn't mentioned much in the last chapter, and that perhaps Edward was pulling an Edward. He wasn't. I just didn't write much interaction between them in that chapter, and never once thought about the fact that it might come off as Edward pulling away. That isn't the case.**

 **Also, a huge thanks to my beta, for her awesome skills, and getting this chapter to me early while she's in DC with her daughter lobbying for Tourette support.**

 **And tomorrow morning, I'm off to Chicago with hopes of meeting and getting my picture taking with the cast of Arrow and The Flash, so I'll see you all next week.**

* * *

 **EM**

It had taken forever for me to finally hear back from the Atlanta Police Department, regarding Mr. Watgrove, the owner of the coin, and the news wasn't good.

He'd been found beaten to death in his mansion which had been ransacked. Millions of dollars' worth of antiques had been stolen or destroyed, and they had found some cryptic emails on his computer regarding the sale of the Flowing Hair silver dollar to a private auction.

I'd sent an email to Archie, asking for his help in locating who was in charge of the private auction, where it had taken place, and who had been bidding.

In the meantime, I was busy on the phone going over the descriptions I had of our suspects with the Atlanta police when my name was called.

"McCarty!" Captain Banner hollered as he came jogging out of his office, and I immediately told the Atlanta detective I had to go, but that I'd keep in touch.

"I need you to get to Lucy's Diner. Swan called in a 10-72," he told me, so I grabbed my gun out of my drawer and shoved it in my holster.

A 10-72 meant shots were being fired, and at this time of evening, Lucy's was pretty busy.

I raced out the door, calling for a couple of officers to follow me to the diner, and once in the car, I peeled out of the parking lot.

An ambulance had been radioed in, and I was thinking the worst.

I'd lost a partner in Tennessee a couple years back, and I still had nightmares about it that had me waking up in a cold sweat.

I drove fast and arrived at the diner not long after the call had gone out. I raced toward the front door, noting the shattered window and dark skid marks on the road. The shooter had taken off in a hurry.

Pushing the front door open, I was met with a relatively calm sight. I was expecting the worst, yet it didn't appear there were any fatalities, so that was a good sign.

With a couple of officers behind me, we pulled out our guns and checked the rest of the diner to make sure that the shooter wasn't lurking about.

As soon as the scene was cleared, Bella called out, and I rushed toward her, my eyes falling to the man on the floor next to her.

Jesus, Edward had been hit, but I needed to know what had gone down.

Bella was in a state of shock, and all she would say at the moment was that Edward needed help, and I got that.

I headed toward the door to holler for the paramedics after asking some of the officers to round up the witnesses and get as many statements as they could. Eye witness testimony was unreliable, but any information would be welcome. We needed to find out who had done this and why.

Soon, the EMTs were putting Edward in the ambulance and that's when I noticed a dark stain of blood on Bella's shirt. Granted, there was a lot of blood on her upper shirt that belonged to Edward, but this blood was coming from her waist near the left side.

"I need a medic over here!" I hollered, a wave of fear washing over me. I'd grown quite fond of Bella, and I thought of her as a younger sister as well as a friend. I didn't want to lose her.

Once Bella and Edward were loaded into the ambulances and were on their way to the hospital, I met up with Officer Dean to see what information he'd gathered.

"Most of the witnesses didn't see a thing," he informed me. "They were busy eating or talking, but a couple of people did see a dark blue car drive by a couple of times before the shooting began."

I nodded my head as I wrote that down in my notebook. It jived with what Bella had said, so I sent Archie a text letting him know that he was, indeed, looking for a dark blue car.

I walked outside as the crime scene unit came in to do their thing. I began to walk down the block, following the direction the car was seen to have gone.

I noticed dark blue paint scraped against a mailbox on the corner, noting it before moving along.

I was halfway down Juniper Street when I noticed a security camera on the outside of a building.

I went inside and explained to the guy behind the counter what was going on, and he was more than willing to let me look at the footage, and he offered to make me a copy as well. I took him up on it when I saw the blue Chevy drive by on the video. The quality was pretty damn decent, but I'd have Archie do what he could to see if we could get a better view of the driver.

With a copy of the footage in my hand, I made my way out the door and took a right at the corner where the store owner had said he'd seen the car go.

The ringing of my phone broke the silence that was all around me, and I pulled it out as I kept walking.

"Sir, where are you?" Officer Dean asked, and I told him that I was just south of Juniper Street.

"What do you have?"

"A Mrs. Cope just called in saying that she'd seen a car driving erratically down Burberry Street."

Burberry was where Edward's store was located, and I was beginning to think that this wasn't a gang initiation as some of the other cops had speculated. I had a feeling this all led back to Edward and the rare coin that someone was so fucking desperate to get their hands on.

I began jogging back toward the diner where I'd left the car and told Dean that I'd meet him outside Edward's shop where Mrs. Cope was apparently at.

I remembered Edward had once mentioned that Mrs. Cope was always coming around to his shop, scoping out his merchandise, and that he'd caught her trying to steal from him once.

Minutes later, I was pulling up alongside Dean and Mrs. Cope, and she was flailing her arms about as she told Dean how the car had almost run her over.

"Young people today just don't have any respect," I heard her say as I walked over to them.

"He just came barreling down the street, and he almost killed me!"

"Are you sure it was a young person?" I asked her.

"I'm not that old nor am I senile," she said in a snarky voice. "I know what I saw. It was that Tracker boy."

My eyebrows raised at her words and my mind raced as I tried to figure out how James Tracker fit into all of this.

After thanking Mrs. Cope for her time, I decided it was time to pay Gerald Hunter a visit, and I asked Officer Dean to come with me.

Less than ten minutes later, we were pulling up in front of the Tracker house and were greeted by a very drunk and irate Gerald. I wasn't surprised. Bella and I'd had to deal with him a couple of times since our first case together, and the guy was a fucking dick.

"What the fuck do you want?" he hollered, and I told him we were there to see James.

"The boy ain't here," he spat out along with some chewed tobacco. "Fucking brat took off this morning, saying he wasn't coming back and that I could go fuck myself. After all I've done for him …." he trailed off.

"Do you know where he was going?"

"He's probably shacking up with that whore in Sappho."

Where the hell was Sappho? I'd never even heard of it, and for all I knew, Gerald had just made it up or had been trying to say something else.

Done talking, Hunter stomped back into his trailer, slamming the door shut.

"Sappho is a tiny town about fifteen minutes from Forks," Dean told me.

An hour later, we arrived in Sappho, a couple of deputies from the Forks police department greeting us.

Between the four of us, we were able to gather plenty of information about James and his girlfriend, a young woman named Victoria Rehd.

We found out that she lived in a cheap motel on the outskirts of town, and when Dean and I pulled into the parking lot, there was a dark blue Chevy Corsica sitting in the back of the lot. The front bumper had some damage, and I was positive that we'd found the car that had run Edward off the road a couple of weeks ago.

I was also certain it was the car that had been used in the shooting this morning, and I called it in.

After calling it in, I talked to the manager of the motel who told me that Victoria had taken off with some skeezy looking guy about an hour ago, and he'd heard them talking about Port Townsend.

"Why would they go there?" I asked Dean.

"There's a ferry that will take you to Friday Harbor which has a ferry that will take them to Canada."

Of course, they were on the run, and you didn't run if you weren't guilty. Well, unless you were being chased by some crazy serial killer or something, but I had a feeling that wasn't the case here.

Many, many phone calls later, the police in both Port Townsend and Friday Harbor had been alerted as well as Border Patrol. If the two of them tried to leave the country, they would be caught seeing as they were both people of interest in an officer-related shooting.

* * *

It had been a few days since the All-Points Bulletin had gone out on Victoria's car and longer since Bella and Edward had both been shot.

I'd had Archie working overtime to try and find some sort of connection between James and the parties in our case, and luckily, he'd found something.

A cashier at the IGA where James liked to hang out, which I found to be a bit pathetic if I was honest, had seen a man fitting Demitri Voltaire's description walk up to James and have a conversation with him. The cashier hadn't heard what was said, but he swore money had been exchanged, and I wondered just how much money it had been.

With that news, I'd gone to update Captain Banner as well as Bella's father. He'd wanted to be informed of any information that we had gathered, and I was more than willing to let the man know what I had discovered.

That was when I got a call from the Friday Harbor police department. Apparently, a couple matching James' and Victoria's descriptions had been detained trying to board a ferry to Canada.

"Dean, you're with me!" I shouted as I grabbed my coat and car keys before rushing out the door, barely making sure that he was with me.

It was a long four-and-a-half hour drive, and I was anxious to get ahold of the couple to see what they had to say. I had no doubt that they were going to lawyer up if they hadn't already.

I would make sure if James was the one who had shot Bella and Edward, he would spend the rest of his fucking life rotting in a jail cell.

"Hello, James," I said once Dean and I entered the jail and were led back to the cell where James was sitting, looking extremely pissed off.

He shot me a nasty look, and I just smiled. The fucker knew he was in trouble, and I couldn't wait to hear what he had to say.

"You are in a shit ton of trouble," I told him once we were seated in the interrogation room.

He just stared at me, a bored look on his face that I wasn't buying.

"You're looking at two counts of attempted murder, and seeing as how one of those people that you shot was a cop, you're looking at hard time."

His face paled, and I stared him down. then he spoke but only to ask for a lawyer.

"It won't do you much good. No lawyer is going to be able to get you out of this one. There will be no plea bargains. Go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars."

With that, I got up and walked out, leaving him to sit there and think about what I'd said while he waited for his public defender.

What I found interesting was that he never once denied what I'd accused him of. All he'd done was ask for a lawyer.

I knew it would take a while for a lawyer to show, so Dean and I went to a local restaurant for some dinner.

Halfway through dinner, I got a call that James and his lawyer were ready to meet with us, so we finished eating and made our way back to the jail.

"I'd like to make a dea—" his lawyer began, and I shut her down, telling her there would be no deals.

"He shot a cop!" I growled at her. "I don't make deals with people who try to kill my partner."

She looked over at James who looked back at her before letting out a resigned sigh. I guess he'd finally realized that he wasn't getting out of this.

"Why'd you do it, James?" I asked, leaning back in my chair with my arms crossed over my chest.

He mumbled something that I didn't hear, and I asked him to speak up.

"I needed the fucking money, okay?" he shouted. "I owe some guys a lot of money, and this old dude approached me and said he'd pay me a lot of money to shoot up the diner, and that he'd pay me even more to aim for this one booth. Man, I didn't know that cop bitch would be sittin' there."

"You will watch your mouth, got it?" I snarled at him, and he nodded his head.

"How much did you get paid?"

"Ten G's."

"Ten G's! You were willing to shoot up the diner, injure, and kill however many people, and all for ten lousy grand?"

I'd seen people do worse for less money, but it still never failed to amaze me at how far some people were willing to do for money.

"Who paid you?"

He started to tell me he didn't know, but I wasn't buying his bullshit, and he knew it.

"He told me his name was John Smith," he said, and I barely held back an eye roll. Of course, an alias would be used.

"I don't think that was his real name though," James said. "He said he was friends with the guy I owed money to and that he'd be willing to help me out if I did something for him. I needed the money, man!"

"Describe this John Smith to me," I demanded.

"Tall guy, older, like, in his fifties or so, and he had a slight accent. Dark hair, dark eyes, olive colored skin. That's all I remember. Oh, he drove a fancy car."

I opened up the folder that I'd brought to Friday Harbor with me, and inside it were pictures of six different men. I slid the photo collage across the table.

"Do you see him on this?"

Almost immediately, James picked Demitri Voltaire out of the photo alignment, and I noted it down in my notebook.

I had what I needed, and I shoved a legal pad across the table with a pen.

"Write it all down. Everything. Don't leave out a damn thing."

Ten minutes later, James tossed the pen onto the notepad and shoved it at me.

Picking it up, I read what he'd written, noting that he'd given specific times and dates of when he'd received the first half of the money and the last of it.

"At any point in time, did this man tell you why he wanted you to shoot up the diner or aim for that particular booth?"

"No."

There was one question that I still needed him to answer even though I had enough to make sure James never saw freedom again.

"One more thing," I began. "Why did you run Edward Cullen off the road a few weeks ago?"

"I didn't," he swore, and I was inclined to believe him. After all, he'd copped to the shooting, so why would he lie about that.

"The car that you drove for the shooting was the same type of car used to run Mr. Cullen off the road, and it has damage to the front fender."

"That John Smith guy gave me the car to use! He told me once the job was done, to dump the car and get out of town; go to Canada."

"And Victoria Rehd? How does she fit into all of this?" I asked him.

"She doesn't know nothin' about what's going on. She's innocent in all of this," he told me, a fierceness to his tone.

I figured that she probably didn't know much about what was going on, but I wanted to make sure, so

Dean was currently talking to her.

Several hours later, we were on our way back to Port Angeles with James Hunter handcuffed in the back of the squad car.

It was a long, quiet ride back, and once we arrived, I had a ton of paperwork to do. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

 **a/n: As always, let me know what you thought!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the reads/reviews! I had a blast last weekend at the Heroes and Villains fan fest. I have a few pictures up on my Instagram (name is zimphella), and I got some crappy video footage from the wine party that Stephen Amell hosts. I recommend searching on Youtube for the Nocking Point Party in Chicago. You can see Stephen Amell singing and boy, is he amazing.**

 **A huge thanks to my beta, Heather, for her amazing beta skills!**

 **Now, on you go.**

* * *

… **B…..**

I was tired, sore, and dying of boredom. The constant humming and beeping of machines in my room were driving me insane, and all I wanted was to go home. But no, I couldn't leave for another week, at least, and I was fairly certain I would die of boredom before then.

After that, it would be weeks, if not months, before I would be up and about and back to work. I wasn't looking forward to just sitting around for that long.

A knock on the door to my hospital room had me looking over from the ceiling where I'd been counting tiles.

I beamed when I saw Edward walk in with Emmett behind him, but my smile faded when I saw the serious expression on their faces. Something was definitely up, and I had a feeling that this wasn't a social call.

I'd seen Edward a few times since I'd woken up, but it had never been for long. The doctor's had insisted that I needed my rest since I'd had major surgery.

"What's going on?" I asked, shifting slightly in my bed, only to wince in pain as the tender area area around the stitches pulled a bit.

"Emmett caught the person who shot us," Edward said quietly as he sat down on the side of my bed, picking up my hand and giving it a slight squeeze.

"Who?"

"James Tracker," Emmett said, and my mouth dropped open. That was not the name I expected to hear.

James was a dumbass kid who liked to smoke weed and burglarize properties, but murder wasn't his game.

"Are you sure?" I asked him, and he nodded as he pulled one of the chairs in the room closer to my bed.

"But that's not what he does. He's a petty thief."

"Demitri Voltaire paid him ten thousand dollars to shoot up the diner and to aim for the first booth in front of the large window. The booth you and Edward almost always sit at."

I opened my mouth to speak, but Emmett kept going. He explained how Demitri had found out that James owed some guys a bit of money, and he used that to his advantage.

"So, there's a warrant out for Voltaire's arrest for his involvement in the shooting, but I've got more news. Mr. Watgrove was found murdered in his house in Atlanta. The ten million dollar coin that everyone is looking for was sold at a private auction a while ago, and we believe that Aro Caius thinks Edward must have bought it."

"Why did they kill Mr. Watgrove then?" I asked. "He no longer had the coin."

Emmett shrugged. "From what I can gather, Watgrove had been trying to find out who stole it from him, and he must have come close to discovering something."

"Okay, so why does Volturi think Edward has the coin?"

"Because I did buy some coins from that auction," Edward explained. "It was back in Chicago, and I'd been invited, along with several other antiquities dealers in the area, to a small private auction. It had been attended by about thirty people, and they were selling coins and a few other items."

"Wouldn't you have remembered a ten million dollar coin being sold?"

"I left about halfway through the auction because I got a text telling me that Mom had been in a fender bender and had broken her arm. I paid for what I'd bought and arranged for shipping, and then I left."

I pondered over what he said and what Emmett believed.

"Could the coin have been shipped to you by mistake?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Believe me, Bella, I'd know if I had that coin sitting around."

"Okay, yeah, but did you receive anything in your shipment that you hadn't bought?"

The thumb that had been lightly stroking the back of my hand froze before he spoke.

"A small porcelain china dog."

"What?" Emmett and I both asked.

"There was a small china dog in the shipment. It couldn't have been worth more than twenty bucks. I remember calling the auction and telling them. They told me it was an accident, and I offered to send it back to them, but they told me I could keep it since no one had bid on it and the original owner didn't want it."

"Where is it?" I asked.

"In a box in my storage unit on Fifth Street. It's just filled with some childhood awards and junk like that," he told us.

I looked at Emmett and told him they needed to get over to the storage site and to take backup with him.

Edward gave Emmett the key and the security code for the storage unit after telling him he wasn't sure what box the porcelain figurine was in.

Emmett stood up as he called for some backup to meet him at Fred's Storage, shooting us a wave as he left.

"Is it possible that this could all be over soon?" Edward asked, and I shrugged, wincing as I did so.

"God, I hope so. I just want life to go back to normal although the two of us aren't going to be normal for a while."

"We weren't exactly normal to begin with," Edward said with a smile before leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on my lips.

It wasn't enough. I wanted one of those deep passionate kisses that left me wanting more, but Edward pulled away.

"Hey!" I protested.

"You need your rest," he told me, and I pouted. I was tired of resting. It was all I did, and I told him that.

"Yeah, well, wait until you start physical therapy. Then you'll prefer the bed rest."

I wasn't so sure about that.

Almost an hour later, Emmett called Edward, saying they'd found the small china dog and were taking it to the station to examine it. He wanted Edward to be there when they did, and I was annoyed that I wasn't able to go; however, I made Edward promise to keep me in the loop because even though I was out of commission, this was still my case.

Less than twenty minutes later, my phone rang, and I eagerly answered when I saw it was Edward. He told me he was at the station and that they were about to break open the china dog to see what was inside.

I had him put me on speakerphone, and I heard Archie tell Edward we should Skype since he knew I would want to see what they were doing.

Thankfully, my tablet was close to me, and I was able to grab it without too much struggle. Minutes later, I was watching as the crime scene techs finished photographing the little dog.

"All right, Ed, have at it," Emmett said, and I watched as Edward picked up a small hammer and gently tapped the porcelain figurine.

It cracked immediately, and with one more tap, it opened, and there, nestled inside the dog, was a small square case which housed a coin. A very rare coin. A coin worth ten million fucking dollars.

"Holy shit!" Edward said in a whisper as he stared down at it.

A pair of latex gloves were handed over, and Edward put them on before reaching down to pick up the small case.

Very carefully, he opened it up and took out the coin, turning it over in his hands.

"Is it the real deal?" Emmett asked.

"I'm no coin expert, but I think so. It sure as hell looks like the real thing, and who would hide a fake coin?"

The coin was put back in its protective case, and Edward handed it over so it could be catalogued as evidence.

"What do we do now?" Edward asked.

"We find Voltaire and bring him in," Emmett said, and I mentioned that someone should go talk to Eleazar Denali and find out what his role was in all of this.

"I can talk to him," Edward said, and all of us said no. I didn't want Edward involved any more than he already was. Besides, we didn't know how dangerous Denali was.

"I'll call Portland P.D. and have them bring him in for questioning. We can do a Skype interrogation. While we're at it, we might as well have Tanya and Aro Caius questioned, too."

* * *

"Talk to me, McCarty," I said into my phone as I sat up in my bed with Edward by my side.

I'd been released from the hospital earlier in the week, and Edward had volunteered to stay with me and help me out. I'd been hesitant at first, not because I didn't want Edward there, but because I was used to being on my own and taking care of myself.

My dad and Sue had dropped off a ton of food and frozen casseroles for me to make for dinners, but they had made me promise not to overdo it. Granted, they'd both felt a lot better when I told me them that Edward would be staying with me for a week to help me out. Although, the poor man was still in pain himself. We were quite the pair.

"So, we talked to Denali," he began. "As you know, he was M.I.A. for a week. Turns out, he was on a hunting trip in Alaska, but as soon as he arrived back in Portland, the police picked him up and brought him in for questioning."

"What did he have to say?"

"Oh, he denied knowing anyone named Demitri Voltaire, but he did admit that he knew Aro Caius. At first, he tried to deny that one as well, but when we pointed out that his daughter was married to the man, he finally admitted that he knew him.

He claims he doesn't know much about Caius, but that Caius asked him to leave his Rolls Royce in a parking garage in downtown Portland."

"Why would Denali agree to do that?" I asked.

"He claims Caius told him if he didn't help him out, then something would happen to his daughter. I'm not sure if I buy it, but I don't have anything to hold him on, so he was cut loose."

"Did you talk to Tanya?" Edward asked as he played with a strand of my hair.

"I did," Emmett confirmed. "She claims to know nothing about her husband's coin collecting hobby, and she finds it irritating that he wastes so much time on it. I questioned her about Demitri Voltaire's whereabouts, and she told me that she'd seen him a couple of days ago when he came to their house in Chicago."

"So, he's still in the country?" I asked.

"We think so. We've got a nationwide alert out on him, but he's got money and resources. As far as Aro Caius goes, he isn't returning our calls, and according to his wife, he's away on business."

"So, we've basically hit a dead end," I muttered, flopping back on the bed and then regretting it. My side hurt like a bitch, and I was trying to tough my way through it without taking any pain meds, but I was about at my wit's end.

"Bella, take the painkillers," Edward said, and I let out a huff as he got up off the bed and grabbed the bottle of medication, tossing it onto the bed next to me. He then went into my bathroom and filled up a glass with water.

With some reluctance, I took the pills as I listened to Emmett snicker a bit at our exchange.

"To answer your question, yes we're at a bit of a dead end until we can catch Voltaire, but I promise you both, we will catch him."

We talked for a few minutes longer, and when we hung up, I felt exhausted.

"Why don't you take a nap?" Edward suggested. "I'll run out and pick us up some Thai food for dinner and maybe a movie from Redbox."

"You need to rest, too," I told him. "You've got physical therapy in the morning."

Leaning over, he placed a kiss on my lips, and I moaned at the feeling. Sadly, we hadn't been able to do much more than kiss because of both of our injuries, and I was missing the feel of Edward.

* * *

 **a/n: As always, let me know what you thought!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Howdy, folks! This is a little update. It's pretty much a continuation of last chapter, but don't worry. I'll still post on Sunday. So please go enjoy and happy Wednesday (Arrow is on tonight, so that makes it happy for me)!**

* * *

"Swan!" a bunch of my fellow cops hollered as I slowly walked into the precinct, and I gave them all a small wave as I made my way toward Banner's office.

I had been out of work going on four weeks, but I was now able to move about, albeit slowly, and I was dying to get back to work.

It had been a stressful four weeks, and Edward and I had been snippy with each other this last week.

It didn't help that we were both sexually frustrated, add in the fact that Voltaire was still in the wind, and it just equaled a bad combination.

"Nope," Banner said as soon as I entered his office.

"Oh, c'mon," I begged as I gingerly sat down in one of his chairs. "I'm going crazy. I need to do something. I'd settle for sitting behind my desk and just inputting information into the computer. Please."

The captain stared at me for a few minutes before telling me that the only way he'd let me come back and work desk duty was if I got the okay from my doctor.

"As soon as I have the okay, you can do desk duty, and I don't want to hear you bitch about it."

Leaving his office, I stopped by to talk a couple of my co-workers before calling and leaving a message with my doctor. I didn't care how much I had to plead, beg, and whine. I wanted to get back to work.

I decided to stop in and say hello to Archie, so I made my way toward the bank of elevators, pushing the button for the basement once I was inside.

A few seconds into the ride, the fire alarm went off, and the elevator came to a halt.

"Fuck!" I muttered as I tried to figure out what to do. Being stuck in an elevator was not my idea of a good time, especially if there was a fire. I sure as fuck didn't want to burn to death.

I grabbed the phone that was on the wall, but I got no answer when I attempted to use it. I pushed and pulled the red alarm button, but again, nothing happened.

The fire department was a block away, so I figured they would probably arrive at any moment, and I could wait it out in the elevator until then. However, six minutes went by, and not one person had tried to pry open the elevator doors which should have happened by now. Not to mention, there was no excess heat or the smell of smoke.

I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and decided to call the station's main number, but it just rang, so I sent a text to Archie downstairs.

Seconds later, my phone rang, and I fumbled to answer it.

"Hey, Arch—"

"There's a breach in the building," Archie interrupted, whispering. "There are guys with guns, raiding the evidence locker."

"What?"

"They set off the fire alarm, causing an evacuation of the building, but my gut told me something wasn't right, so I stayed behind."

"Where are you?" I asked quietly.

"In the janitor's closet in the basement, down the hall from the evidence room."

"Fuck! You have to get out of there, Archie. You aren't armed."

"Yeah, well, I'm working on it. There's at least five of them, and they're all speaking Italian."

"Did you call it in?" I asked him, and there was a pause on his end as he said no before telling me he was too scared to think straight.

I told him to hang on as I sent out a text to Emmett, letting him know that Archie and I were still trapped in the building.

Right after I sent the text, my phone beeped to let me know there was no cell service. I called Archie's name into my phone, but I got nothing. Someone had jammed the cell tower that was nearby, and I could only pray that my text had sent and had been received by Emmett.

I was pacing around the metal cage I was in, hoping like hell that the cavalry was being sent, when I heard someone outside the elevator doors. I sure as hell hoped it was one of the good guys because I had zero weapons on me, not to mention I wasn't in any shape to be kicking bad guy ass.

"Give me a hand, Dean," I heard Emmett say quietly in his deep Southern accent, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Most elevator doors won't open if you're aligned with the floor, so I could only assume that I was between the first floor and the basement.

"Bella, stand back," he said, and I did as he said.

Several long moments and some inventive curses later, the doors were pried open just enough for a really, really skinny person to get through.

Peering up, I saw Emmett and Officer Dean staring down at me, and I gave them both a small smile before asking them to get me out.

"We're working on it, B," Emmett said quietly. "This shit looks so much easier in the movies."

Finally, Emmett and Dean had pried the doors open enough for me to fit through, but they were going to have to pull me up, and I wasn't looking forward to it.

"Give us your hands," Dean said, and I stretched up on my tiptoes to grasp their hands.

Slowly, they can began to pull me up, and I let out a string of curses as pain ripped through my abdomen.

"Sorry, Bells," Emmett said once I was face down on the floor next to them.

"I'm fine," I told them in a strangled voice. "Just give me a few minutes."

I slowly got to my knees, taking a few deep breaths before standing up.

"There are guys with weapons downstairs with Archie," I told them, and Emmett nodded.

"I know. They're looking for the coin we brought in," he said, and I stared at him.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded his head as he informed me that he and Dean had been in the breakroom, down the hall from the main squad room, when the alarm had gone off. Like Archie, they'd felt something was off, so they stuck around and had heard one guy talking to another about finding some fucking coin in the evidence room.

"Shit! We need to get down there," I whispered.

"The coin isn't down there," Emmett said with a small smirk that had me staring at him.

"I checked it out of evidence earlier this morning to take it to a coin dealer for authentication," he explained. "It's upstairs locked in my bottom drawer."

"Seriously, Em? It's evidence! It should be in the evidence room!" I scowled, and he rolled his eyes at me.

"You can yell at me later for breaking protocol, but just be glad that I have it and not them."

He was right. Now wasn't the time.

"So, what's the plan?" Dean asked, and I looked at Emmett for the answer.

"We need to get to Archie before they do, and you need a weapon, Bella."

I eagerly took the nine mil that was handed to me, and after checking it, I placed it in my waistband at my lower back along with a pair of handcuffs that Emmett gave me.

"I think I saw this once on an episode of _CSI:NY_ ," I whispered as we made our way toward the back stairwell that wasn't used all that often. "It was the one where an Irish gang broke into CSI to steal back their coke or heroin."

"I remember that one," Dean said, and that made him A-OK in my book. I didn't really know the guy that well. He was new to the force, but Emmett had been working with him for the past month or so, and he said the guy was good. I trusted Emmett and his judgment, so if he said Dean was reliable, then he was.

"Did Archie say how many guys there were?" Dean asked me.

"He thought there were five of them," I replied, and I loathed to admit that I was more than a little worried and scared.

I'd never been in this kind of a situation before, and Port Angeles didn't really have a SWAT team. For hostage situations, we usually relied on the help of either the FBI or the Seattle P.D., so I hoped like hell this didn't turn into a hostage situation because I wasn't so sure I could talk anyone down. I'd probably just swear a lot and get someone killed.

We made it down the stairwell, and Emmett took a quick look around the corner before flattening himself against the wall. He placed his finger to his lips, indicating that we should be silent, before using hand gestures to let Dean and me know that there were two guys in the hallway.

Gunshots would alert the other bad guys, and none of us wanted this to turn into a bloodbath, so our best course of action would be to knock them out and drag them away.

Carefully, I removed the fire extinguisher from its glass case on the wall near me, and I handed it over to Emmett. Dean was carrying an axe that he'd used to help pry the elevator doors open, so it was up to the two of them to knock out the guys in the hallway.

I kept an eye on things as the guys snuck out and made their moves quickly and efficiently. Both bad guys dropped like flies, and we stashed them in the small men's bathroom and shoved a trashcan under the door handle. I wasn't sure it would hold them, but it would do for now.

We needed to get to the janitor's closet at the end of the hall and rescue Archie. After that, all we needed to do was get the hell out of the fucking building.

With our weapons at the ready, we moved in a single file line down the hall, halting every few steps to listen for any signs of people coming our way.

After what seemed like forever, we made our way to the janitor's closet and knocked softly on the door which eventually opened to reveal a very freaked out Archie.

"Let's go," Dean whispered, gesturing for Emmett to go first with Archie and me in the middle, and he would bring up the rear.

We snuck back down the hall toward the stairwell we'd used to come down to the basement, and just as Emmett and Archie made their way up the stairs, I heard shouting in what I assumed was Italian.

"Go, go, go!" Dean yelled as he fired off a shot.

The four of us ran up those stairs as fast as we could, and my side was fucking killing me, but I didn't stop. If I did, I could very well end up getting shot again, and once was enough for me.

"Cover me, Swan!" Dean hollered once we'd reached the door leading to the first floor that Emmett and Archie had already gone through.

I fired off a couple of shots, hearing one of the guys let out a grunt and hoping like hell that I'd hit the bastard.

"What are you doing?" I hollered to Dean who was fiddling with the fucking door.

"Jamming it," he told me. "Go!"

I dashed through the door with Dean on my heels, and he slammed it shut, and then we took off through the squad room which had emptied when the fire alarm had gone off. We made our way out the front door and were met with chaos.

I heard Captain Banner yelling at the fire chief that something wasn't right, and that he still had people in the building.

We made our way over to them, and between the four of us, we were able to explain what was going on, and less than forty minutes later, the six men had all been arrested and no one had been killed. It was a better outcome than I had hoped for.

* * *

 **a/n: Leave me some love, and I'll see you on Sunday!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Alrighty, gang. This is the last regular chapter, so next week will be the epi, and then I'll be taking a break to finish my next story.**

 **A huge thank you to all of you for reading/reviewing, and a huge thanks to my awesome beta for looking over my stuff while being on vacation.**

* * *

 **..E...**

"So, they sang, huh?" I asked as I listened to Bella and Emmett describe what had happened the previous day at the police station.

"Yep," Bella said. "They acted like these tough motherfuckers, but in the end, they caved. They told us that they'd been hired by Voltaire, who worked for Aro Caius, to get the coin from the police station."

"How did he know it was there?"

"He was watching us from the time we got let out of the hospital. Once he realized that the coin was being kept as evidence, he freaked out and hired some guys that he's used before," she explained.

"But, it gets better," Emmett broke in. "They gave us the whereabouts of Voltaire's location in Seattle where they were supposed to meet him, and the Seattle P.D. arrested him an hour ago and are going to be transporting him here soon."

"Let me see if I have this right," I said, ticking off each event as I came to it. "Caius either bought or saw who bought the Flowing Hair dollar coin at the same auction that I'd been at a year ago in Chicago, the coin, unbeknownst to me, gets sent to me by mistake, and then Tanya, who was dating Caius while she was dating me, causes all sorts of problems for me to help her boyfriend out or something like that. I move out here, the coin still in my possession, and Caius figures out I have it, so he sends Voltaire to snoop around which led to all of this fucking drama?"

"Sounds about right," Bella said. "We'll know more once we talk to Voltaire."

I flopped back on my couch, running a hand through my hair. My life had become a really bad b-rated drama thriller with plot holes galore.

"Can life get back to normal now?" I asked them.

"I certainly hope so," Emmett said. "My Rosie's a bit pissed because she hasn't really seen me in weeks."

I felt bad because everyone had given up so much to help me since this whole freaking thing had started, and I was ready for it to be over.

I wanted to be able to keep normal hours at my shop, to not have to go to physical therapy twice a week, to spend quality time with my friends, family, and my girlfriend, and to be happy again.

I knew we still had a long time before all of that would really happen because there would probably be a trial if Voltaire and Caius didn't plead guilty, and those things could drag on for years.

"We've got to get to the station," Bella told me, giving me a kiss on the cheek as she and Emmett stood up to leave, and I nodded before wishing them luck. I hoped the bastards just confessed to everything so we could get this over with.

By ten o'clock the following night, I hadn't heard anything from Bella or Emmett, and I was driving myself insane waiting.

Deciding to do my best to forget about the interrogation, I got ready for bed and grabbed my Kindle reader from my nightstand and began to read a Stephen King novel.

About thirty pages in, there was a knock on my door, and after putting on some clothes, I made my way toward the door where I found an exhausted looking Bella.

She practically fell into my arms, and I wrapped her up in a hug after I'd closed the door.

"Well?" I asked her.

"Voltaire denied everything despite all the evidence against him. He wants to go to trial although his lawyer tried to talk him out of it."

"What about Tanya's husband? Was he ever questioned?"

She nodded as she laid her head against my chest, and I stroked her hair gently.

"Yeah, and he confessed to hiring Demitri Voltaire to get the coin for him, but he swears that he didn't know that Voltaire was going to commit such heinous crimes to get it."

"Bullshit," I said, and I felt her nod.

"I agree, but we can't prove that he knew exactly what Voltaire was up to," she informed me. "The district attorney is willing to make a deal with Caius for his involvement in exchange for testimony against Voltaire."

"What kind of deal?" I asked.

"He'll get fifteen to twenty years for criminal conspiracy as opposed to being charged with conspiracy to commit murder that would get him twenty-five to life."

"I bet Tanya's not too happy about that," I said, and Bella shrugged before letting out a huge yawn.

Picking her up carefully, I carried her bridal style into my bedroom and sat her on the bed.

"Why don't you get changed for bed, and I'll make you something to eat. I bet you're starving."

She nodded as she began to pull her shirt over her head, and I left to go into the kitchen to see what kind of food I had.

Pulling out some lunch meat, cheese, and lettuce, I made her a sandwich with a ton of mustard, which she preferred, poured her a glass of tea, and made my way back into the bedroom.

She'd put on one of my old t-shirts and was curled up on top of the covers sound asleep.

Setting down the plate and glass onto the nightstand, I reached out and gently brushed away a strand of long dark hair that had fallen across her face.

She was so tired, and looked so peaceful that I didn't want to wake her, but I also didn't want her to get too cold since it was getting a bit chilly.

With a gentle shake and a kiss to her head, I woke her up and tucked her under the covers, asking her if she wanted the sandwich I'd made.

"Yeah," she said in a raspy voice. "Otherwise, I'll wake up starving at four in the morning."

While she ate, I pulled off the shirt and jeans that I'd thrown on, and I climbed into bed in my boxers, propping myself up on one elbow so I could stare at the gorgeous woman beside me.

As she ate, we talked a little, and I found my gaze moving toward my dresser where a small velvet box sat hidden behind a mound of socks in a drawer.

After the shooting, I had decided that I couldn't live without Bella being mine, as selfish and chauvinistic as that sounded, and I'd gone and picked out an engagement ring.

We'd been together for less than a year, but I knew she was the one, and I was ready. I was ready to propose and to make her my wife, but the timing hadn't been right at all lately.

"Why are you staring at your dresser?" she asked, and I knew my face was a bit red as I looked back at her.

"No reason," I told her, but she wasn't convinced.

"Then why are you blushing?"

"I'm not," I tried to lie, but she just kept staring at me.

This wasn't how I'd planned on asking her to marry me. I had figured I'd do the whole romance thing; candles, music, dinner, and then I'd get down on one knee.

"Go look," I told her, and she set the plate she'd been using aside, climbed out of bed, and padded over to the dresser.

"Which drawer?"

"Sock drawer," I told her, watching as she pulled it open and began rifling around.

I knew the second she'd found it. Her whole body froze for a moment before she pulled the box out, and her hand was shaking a bit.

She turned to look at me, and I motioned for her to come back to the bed.

With still trembling hands, she crawled onto the bed and curled up next to me under the covers, and I took the box from her hand.

"This wasn't how I planned on doing this," I told her, and I heard her breath catch.

With my own slightly shaking hands, I opened the box, and nestled inside, was a solid platinum 1930's antique halo ring with an old European-cut diamond in the middle of it. It had cost a pretty penny, but the minute I'd seen it, I had known it would be perfect for Bella.

"I love you, Bella Swan. I think I have since the moment I laid eyes on you, and I knew from that moment that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

She looked away from the ring and into my eyes, and I saw tears forming. I wondered if she was going to say no, sighting that now wasn't the time, or that she didn't love me the way I loved her.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Yeah?" I asked, a silly grin crossing my face.

She nodded before telling me yes again, and I took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger. It fit perfectly, and I brought her hand up for a kiss.

It didn't take long before our clothes were off, and I was sliding deep inside her, both of us moaning at the feeling of being so intimately connected. It had been weeks since we'd made love, and now it felt and meant so much more.

It was slow kisses, languid movement, little sighs, and love.

Later, we fell asleep tangled around each other, and it was the best sleep I'd had in months.

* * *

The following day, we called my parents to tell them the news of our engagement, and to say my mother was thrilled would have been an understatement.

I called Alice immediately afterward, and she was just as thrilled. We'd had a long talk after our fight when she had been taking care of me, and we'd worked things out just like we always did.

After a round of shower sex, we cleaned up and called Charlie and Sue, asking them to meet us at Bella's house. Jacob and Emmett were called as well, and a couple of hours later, Bella and I were setting out the food that we'd gotten for our impromptu get-together.

"Hey, kiddo!" Charlie hollered as he and Sue stepped through the doorway, and Bella gave them both huge hugs.

She'd always been close to her dad, but it seemed as if she was even closer to both Charlie and Sue after getting shot. Her mother, who had been called and notified about Bella's surgery, hadn't bothered to call, show up, or even check on her daughter. Needless to say, she wouldn't be invited to the wedding.

"Edward, son,how are you doing?" Charlie asked, and I told him I was good. In fact, I was feeling pretty amazing.

A few minutes later, Emmett and Jacob showed up. Bella had told me once that she thought that Jacob and Emmett could easily become best friends, and I think she was right. They had a lot of the same interests, but they were quick to invite me to hang out with them as well.

Once we were all in the living room, I was about to speak up and tell them why we'd invited them there, but Jacob beat me to it.

"Holy shit, Bells! That's one hell of a rock on your finger!"

I couldn't help but laugh along with Bella.

"Yeah, that's why we invited you here. Edward and I are engaged. And no, we don't have a date set for the wedding yet. We haven't made any wedding plans at all."

Hugs and fist pounds were exchanged, and the night was spent in celebration which was something that we all needed.

* * *

 **a/n: Let me know what you thought, and I'll see you all next week.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Well, here it is. The last chapter of this story. I can't think you all enough for reading this little story! I appreciate it so much! Also, a huge thank you to my beta for being so awesome!**

 **Oh, and my story Design for Life (one of my absolute favorites that I've written) is up for** **Favorite Romance Fanfic by the Fanatic Fanfics. If you've read it, feel free to go vote at awards. fanaticfanfics. com**

* * *

… **...Epilogue ….**

 **4 Years Later: Bella**

It had taken two long years for Demitri Voltaire to be convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, murder for hire, burglary, and the first degree murder of Alistar Watgrove which had resulted in multiple life sentences for him.

Twenty minutes ago, I'd gotten a phone call from the prosecutor's office, informing me that Voltaire had been found dead in his cell. Someone had shanked the bastard, stabbing him twelve times, and I couldn't find it in myself to be the least bit sorry that he'd gotten what was coming to him.

Shoving my chair away from my desk, I decided to go hunt down Emmett who was working on a case with Archie in the basement and let him know. I stretched a bit before standing up, groaning at the dull throb in my lower back. This pregnancy was going to kill me before I made it to nine months.

I was halfway to the bank of elevators when I got distracted by the Almond Joys in the vending machine. I'd developed a craving for anything with coconut which was funny since I normally couldn't stand the stuff.

I put a couple dollars in the machine and got two of the candy bars, humming in delight when I bit into the first one. I swore my kid was going to come out with a coconut for a head.

"Really, B? Those things are so gross," Emmett commented once I'd found him in Archie's office.

"I know, but they're so good," I said around a mouthful of candy. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Demitri Voltaire got shanked late last night in his cell."

"Gee, let me shed a tear," he commented dryly, and I smirked.

I sat down in a chair that was provided to me by Archie, and chatted with the two of them as they told me about a case they were working on.

I was on desk duty for the next three months until my maternity leave kicked in, and I was fine with that. I certainly didn't want to be chasing down anyone while six months pregnant especially since I was tired and achy a lot of the time.

"Whoa," I said out of the blue as the baby began to wiggle around like crazy. Our boy was a kicker, and anytime Edward talked to him, Logan wiggled all over the place. He loved the sound of his daddy's voice.

"What's wrong?" both Emmett and Archie asked, and I shook my head.

"Nothing. Baby's moving around a lot."

They both got looks of relief on their faces, and I rolled my eyes at them.

I hung out with them until around eleven, and then I took lunch and went to the diner to meet Edward. I was suddenly craving a slice of coconut pie, and Lucy made a damn good pie.

"Hey, sweetheart," Edward said when I waddled in, and I leaned into the kiss he gave me.

"How's our boy doing?"

"He's kicking and wiggling," I told him as I slid into the booth and picked up the menu.

As we ate lunch, Edward told me about an estate sale in Seattle that he wanted to hit up tomorrow, but he promised to be home by five. There was an antique bookshelf for sale that he wanted to put in his study at our home.

His business was booming, and he'd had to hire a couple of people to help him out. Cullen Antiques was _the_ antique store to hit up on this side of Seattle, and his online side of the business was booming as well. He was constantly getting orders and requests, but he loved it.

We'd moved into a beautiful late-nineteenth-century home built right near the Strait of Juan de Fuca with four bedrooms, three baths, and a large backyard overlooking the Strait in which our two year-old daughter, Mia, loved to play in.

"Are you still up for going to the zoo on Saturday?" he asked me, and I nodded. Was I looking forward to walking all over the zoo? Not really, but Mia wanted to go see some "aminals" as she called them.

"Yeah, maybe we can visit Alice and Jasper while we're in town," I suggested, and Edward pulled out his phone and sent a text to his sister.

Alice and Jasper still lived in Seattle. They hadn't wanted children, but they sure loved to dote on our girl, and Mia just loved her aunt and uncle.

"Do we want to invite Jake and his brood?" Edward asked.

"Sure, we can just make it one big playdate."

Jake had married a woman he'd met online a year after Edward and I had gotten married, and he had four kids now; a daughter who was three, a set of twin boys who were the same age as Mia, and a baby boy who had just turned one.

We often had playdates with them and Emmett's kids despite his girls being significantly older at ages eight and ten. Although, Emmett's youngest daughter, Hannah, loved to play with Mia.

After lunch, we went our separate ways, and I made my way back to the station, groaning at the pile of folders that had appeared on my desk while I'd been out.

"Seriously, Dean?" I shouted across the room, and he shot me a grin.

Jared Dean had become a good friend of ours after he'd helped us out with the Voltaire case all those years ago. He'd made detective a few years back around the time that I had Mia, and he was partnered with Emmett while I on desk duty.

* * *

"Daddy, I wanna see the giwaffes," our little girl told Edward, and I grinned at the way that she said giraffe. It was so fucking cute.

"I know, baby girl. We'll see them, but there are lots of other animals to see as well. Okay?" Edward asked as he carried her on his hip, and she let out a resigned sigh.

"Okay."

As we slowly made our way through the zoo, I rubbed my back, which was aching a bit, and I saw Edward look over with a worried look.

"I'm fine," I said with an eye roll.

"Well, I'll give you a massage later," he said quietly, placing a sweet kiss on my lips.

"Does it come with a happy ending?" I asked him, and he shot me a wicked grin with a wink.

"C'mon, my girls, let's go see some lions!"

We spent almost two hours at the zoo with Jacob's family as well as Emmett's, and all the kids seemed tired and ready for naps, and I was right there with them. A nap sounded fantastic, and I knew I'd have no trouble falling asleep on the ride home.

We'd stopped and seen Alice and Jasper earlier that morning, resulting in Mia getting some new clothes that Alice had made for her, and Jasper had given her a couple of books. Mia had been thrilled. She was becoming quite the bookworm, and her little bookshelves were filled with all kinds of books.

The drive home to Port Angeles was a quiet one, seeing as how our girl was asleep before we'd even gotten back to the car in the zoo parking lot, and it didn't take long for me to follow her.

"Wake up, Bella," Edward's warm voice said in my ear, and I blinked my eyes open to see that we were in our driveway.

I fumbled to unbuckle my seatbelt, and I followed Edward and Mia up the front steps, only stopping to check the mail real quick.

Once inside, I flipped through the mail and stopped when I came across an envelope with a return address belonging to Tanya Caius.

Her husband was still in prison, as far as I knew, but she had kept his name and his money.

"What's that?" Edward asked a few minutes later after he'd finished putting Mia in her bed for the remainder of her nap.

"A letter from Tanya," I told him, handing him the envelope.

He frowned as he opened it, and then he quickly read the letter.

"Huh," he said once he was done reading it, and I looked at him.

"It's an apology."

"For what?" I asked, taking the letter that he handed to me.

"For cheating on me and for trying to ruin my career all those years ago."

"Seems a bit late for that," I muttered, feeling slightly jealous. Why the hell was Tanya suddenly worried and concerned about Edward's feelings?

"I agree," Edward said, taking the letter back and tossing it in the garbage can.

"Now, c'mon, I believe I owe you a massage," he told me with a grin, and I eagerly followed him up to our bedroom.

* * *

… **.E…**

 **Five More Years Later**

"Daddy!" my now seven year-old daughter hollered from the living room.

"What baby girl?" I hollered back as I struggled to get Logan's shoes on his feet. He was five and constantly on the go, and today was no different. He didn't want to sit still long enough for me to tie his shoes, and although I'd been teaching him to tie them himself, right now, it was quicker for me to do it.

"We're going to be late!"

Boy, if there was one thing my daughter hated, it was being late.

Checking the watch on my wrist, I saw that we still had plenty of time, and I told her that as I walked down the stairs with Logan in front of me.

"You're so slow," she muttered, and I snorted.

"We have plenty of time, Mia," I assured her, but she gave me a look that said she didn't believe me.

It was Bella's birthday, and Mia had wanted to plan a surprise party for my wife, and I had gone along with it.

The party was being held at Charlie and Sue's house in Forks, and Sue had arranged it so that she and Bella would spend the day together before bringing her back to their house for the party.

"Daaaad," Mia whined, and I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Mia," I warned, and she shut her mouth. She could get really whiney, and it was getting worse, so we'd had to have a talk with her about it.

"Ready, Logan?" I asked my boy as he put on the light jacket that I'd handed him.

"Yep!" he said with a big smile.

Logan loved visiting his grandparents in Forks. Charlie lived to take him camping in the backyard or fishing on a Saturday morning, and my boy ate it up.

What my kids didn't know was that my parents were going to be there as well. Mom and Dad had called a few days ago to tell me they were going to be in town, well Seattle really, and I'd invited them to the party. It would be a surprise for the kids and Bella.

A little over an hour later, I was pulling the Volvo SUV into Charlie and Sue's driveway, and moments after I'd parked the car, both of my kids were scrambling to get out of the car and rush into Charlie's arms.

"Grandpa!" they hollered, and Charlie let out a booming laugh as he wrapped them up in hugs.

"Hey, son," Charlie greeted me, and I gave him a hug after the kids had let him go. He'd definitely become a second father to me.

"Is everything ready, Grandpa?" Mia asked.

"I could use some help with putting up some of these decorations," he told her, and she beamed at him. I was fairly certain he'd purposely left those for her to do so she would feel like she'd helped.

Mia took off into the house with Logan at her heels, and Charlie and I followed.

"I figured steaks and shrimp would do," Charlie told me as we walked into his kitchen, and I agreed with him.

"I've got baked potatoes, potato salad, and potato chips for the kids," he said, and I snickered before asking him if he had enough potatoes.

"Shut it, you. It was Mia's idea."

"You spoil her, Charlie," I told him.

"I'm her grandpa. It's my right."

A little over twenty minutes later, Jacob and his family, along with Emmett and his family, all piled into Charlie's house, and we kicked all the kids out, telling them to go play in the backyard.

Charlie had built a treehouse years ago for Mia and Logan, and there was a playground set out there as well that the kids loved to play on.

"When are you parents showing up?" Jake asked me.

"Alice texted me a few minutes ago. They're about thirty minutes away," I replied, and Charlie told me he'd text Sue and let her know to come home in about forty-five minutes.

Sue had met up with Bella in Port Angeles, and had they'd gone out to have a spa day or something like that.

Thirty-five minutes later, Jasper and Alice pulled into the drive, and my kids freaked when they saw Pop Pop and Nana walking in behind Jasper and Alice.

Mia threw herself at my mom, hugging her fiercely, before doing the same to my dad, and then Logan did the same.

"Everyone hide and be quiet please," Mia said a few minutes later when we saw Sue's car drive up.

She wanted us all to hide and then jump out to surprise Bella when she came in the door, but I wasn't sure it would work since Logan had a hard time being quiet.

Sure enough, my boy started giggling from his hiding spot beside me, and I pressed a finger to my lips. He flashed me a grin before covering his mouth with his little hands, and it had me fighting a laugh myself.

The moment Bella and Sue walked in, we all shouted surprise as we jumped from our hiding spots, and Bella cracked up.

"Are you surprised, Mommy?" Mia asked, and Bella let out a laugh as she hugged and kissed our girl.

"Very."

"I told you she'd be surprised," Mia told me, and I grinned at her, telling her she was right.

The rest of the day was spent laughing, eating, and being with family. It was a wonderful day, and it got better when my parents informed everyone that they were moving to Seattle once my dad retired at the end of December.

"That's great!" I told them, and my kids were ecstatic that both sets of their grandparents would be nearby.

Later that evening as the sun began to set, I was outside sitting around the bonfire that Charlie had started in the fire pit with Bella on my lap.

Our kids were sprawled on the ground at our feet, and I felt incredibly content. It was times like this that reminded me just how great my life was.

"Happy?" I asked Bella as she let out a contented sigh and snuggled deeper into my arms.

"Always."

* * *

 **a/n: So, April is Campnanowrimo, so I'm using this month to start a new story. Although, I have another story that has 10 chapters done, but this one called to me. It's a** _ **Twilight**_ **fanfic based off the show** _ **Arrow**_ **. We'll see how it goes.**


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